Destined For a Duel
by Aeris Mae
Summary: A warning sent to Yugi Muto and Seto Kaiba. New girls arrive at Domino High. Just who are they and whose side are they on? What are "the Shadows"? And can one girl really cause this much chaos? SetoXOC; slight YugiXTéa, JoeyXMai, and DukeXEveryone. ENJOY! ***Rated T for mild swearing, violence, sexual themes, and death***
1. Dueling Monkeys

[_A/N: This was my very first fanfiction. It's dedicated to Luna and Jenna, without whom I would have never even bothered starting. I love you guys!_]

[_In this story the duel between Yugi and Atem at the end of series never took place. Atem never left, but remained with Yugi for his own reasons. It has been a full year since the Grand Championship (season 5)_]

***Disclaimer*** (I do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" or any of the character, though that would be awesome.)

**Chapter 1 – Dueling Monkeys **

Outside Domino High there is an everlasting crowd of duelists whose only goal is to gawk at the place where several famous students attend. Some of the time these gawking fanatics have the courage to challenge the students to duels, though it never ends well for them. The crowd around the school was rather thin today, and many began to hope that the hype was finally dying down.

It was early morning and the first bell had just rung announcing the start of class. All the students were seated and prepared for whatever the curriculum for the day was…well almost all.

"Yug, wait up!" Joey exclaimed as he and Yugi rounded the next corner. They were still several blocks away from school.

"Joey! We're…late…your curiosity…don't want to…be even more…late," Yugi managed to get out after much gasping.

"Not my…fault…card selection…too good," Joey grunted as he managed to close the gap between himself and Yugi. That morning Joey had convinced his best friend to go with him to a shop that was said to be stocked full of rare cards. In all the excitement Joey, and to be fair Yugi as well, completely lost track of time. Now they were sprinting for school. Though they may be first class duelist, they were second class students in their teacher's eyes.

"Almost there!" Yugi groaned as at last, the school was visible.

"Not many…fans today…ey' Yug?" the blond commented as they approached the gates at a run.

"Just keep running…Joey."

They made it through the small gathering of gawkers and were now at least in the threshold of the school. They could hear the people behind them comment as they run.

"Must be late," a man with light blue dreads stated.

"Wow, they were Cu-tee!" said a high pitched female voice.

"Wasn't that Yugi Muto and Joey Wheeler?" another commented, sounding bored as he ran a hand through his long, red hair.

"No, couldn't be. Duelists like them wouldn't be late to school," muttered a bald man with a black goatee.

"Well maybe we sho..."

Joey and Yugi were at the school steps by then and out of hearing range. They burst through the school doors and began to run down the halls. They didn't stop until they were at the door to their classroom, then as if on cue both bent over to catch their breath. Joey straightened up with a side-ways grin on his face.

"How's my hair?" he asked.

Yugi shook his head and smiled. "Joey, we're about to get torn apart by Mr. Hayashi and all you're worried about is your hair?"

"Gotta look good for my fans! 'Sides, long as my hair looks better than yours, I'm happy," the blonde mocked as he rubbed Yugi's multicolored head with his fist.

"Cut it out Joey, get serious," Yugi demanded as he smacked Joey's hand away.

Instead of continuing with his fun Joey asked, "Got an excuse?"

"Nope. You?"

Joey looked down at his shoes "Working on it. You go in first, I need as much time as I can get. The secon' Mr. Hayashi sees me, he'll jump on me like a fangirl on Kaiba." Yugi stifled a laugh and opened the door to their class with his best friend following after him.

"…you to remember that when we are speaking of…ahhh Mister Muto and Mister Wheeler, so glad you could join us. What elaborate story have you concocted this time, Wheeler? I do so hope it's better than your last. What was it again; gang of cloaked men trying to steal some children's cards?" Mr. Hayashi rudely inquired.

Yugi had already taken his seat in the far left of the classroom by the windows, all the while trying to avoid Téa's questioning gaze. Joey however was still in the front of the class, with his hands behind his head, walking leisurely to his desk.

"You know Mista H. that actually did happen. But you see this mornin, this crazy fangirl got a hold of Yugi's–"

But the class never found out what crazy harebrained story Joey came up with because at the moment Mr. Hayashi slammed a yard stick on the laminate table in front of him.

"Enough of your poor excuses, Wheeler! Take your seat, unless you'd like to spend the remainder of your day in a very quiet room by yourself." Mr. Hayashi replaced the ruler on the chalkboard rail, seeming to regret his loss of composure.

"Sure thing Mista," Joey sighed as he took his seat next to Yugi.

The class found the whole situation humorous, but typical. This sort of thing happened often at Domino High. The only person who didn't seem remotely amused was Seto Kaiba, naturally.

The billionaire sneered, "You should have tried your dueling monkey excuse, Wheeler. That was the one were you dueled a monkey and lost, right?"

"Can it, Kaiba," Joey said as he turned around to glare at the billionaire sitting a few seats back, "one more word and I'll–"

"Gentlemen, please!" Mr. Hayashi yelled, demanding their attention. "Mister Wheeler if you do not retake your seat there will be consequences."

"Yes sir," Joey mumbled before he shot Kaiba one last hateful glance.

When Mr. Hayashi was sure there were no more interruptions he turned back to the board and said, "Now, where was I? Ah yes, when you are dealing with vectors…"

Whenever Mr. Hayashi taught his lessons he wouldn't stop unless a fight literally broke out. He did not tolerate interruptions; he also frowned upon questions which he felt were meant to be asked at the very end of the lecture. You could get away with anything in class; sleeping, talking, even a duel if you were quiet enough.

"Ten minutes late. You'da thought we missed more than an hour by the way he reacted," Joey said smiling as he turned towards Yugi. Yugi opened his mouth to respond, but Téa beat him to it.

"You're '_ten minutes late_' everyday, Joey. You have to know how much it irritates him, how much it irritates all of us," the brunette hissed under her breath.

"Oh come off it Téa, you know it's pretty funny," Joey said as he gave her an apologetic smile.

Téa shook her head, but there was the slightest upward pull on her lips as she rolled her eyes.

"My favorite is the one with the parachuting ninjas from Canada," Tristan declared as he gave Joey a light punch on the shoulder. They all began to laugh quietly, remembering Joey's first excuse to his and Yugi's tardiness.

They were a circle of friends that were constantly together. Sometimes Bakura and Duke joined their group, as Bakura sat behind Téa and Duke next to him, but they never had anyone new. They had been like this for what seemed like forever, and it was hard to imagine a time when it had not been this way.

The hour continued monotonously and when it was up the bell rang for their first free study period of the day. The teachers called it this because "free time" sounded too fun, but that's what it was. They were given thirty minutes after every hour and half of lessons. The headmaster felt this improved testing scores and stimulated their minds, and the students weren't about to disagree.

"That time already?" Mr. Hayashi asked looking at his watch. "Well we'll pick up where we left off after your study break. As always, save your questions for the end of the period."

_Finally. Now I can get something productive done, _Kaiba thought as he took out all his notes on duel disk technology and design. Recently he'd been working on a new system that diluted the impact of a Duel Monster's attacks. He'd never quite been able to figure out why the attacks of holograms physically affected the duelists even with the safeties in place. Though he had first ridden this accident off as a meaningful part off the system, now that he had free time he was determined to discover why. Sometimes, Yugi would look at him and feel sorry that he had to sit through lessons when he obviously had the knowledge already; Kaiba was the CEO of a multibillion dollar corporation after all.

Kaiba scrutinized his work as he always did during their free periods, while the rest of the class goofed around.

"Come on Yugi, duel me. I want to try out some of those cards we got," Joey said as he took the seat in front of Yugi a girl had just vacated.

"Alright Joey, I could use a good match," Yugi said as he reached into the spot on his belt where he kept his deck. He hadn't used his God cards in a duel in a very long time; it had become almost unnecessary. Atem was suddenly more present in his head than he had been during the lecture.

"_Do you want me to take this duel Yugi?" _His yami asked as he appeared to the right of Yugi's desk.

_No I think I can handle this one, besides Joey gets mad when you help, _Yugi told Atem as the Pharaoh leaned against Joey's desk.

As if he were reading Yugi's mind Joey declared, "And no helping him Atem, you know it's like cheating."

The argument began there, each person choosing whether Atem's help was considered cheating or not.

Suddenly Joey asked without cause, "Ey' Yugi, you see that girl we passed on the way here?" Tristan's head snapped up and Yugi looked puzzled.

"What girl?" Tristan asked.

"No, I didn't," Yugi said honestly as he shuffled his deck.

"Yug, you're tellin me you didn't see that fine lookin girl in front of the school? Do you even notice girls?" Joey asked seriously as Tristan attempted not to laugh. Téa was ignoring them for the moment, trying to figure out what she had done wrong in her notes.

"I notice girls," Yugi mumbled as he shyly peeked at Téa and then quickly resumed shuffling his deck when she looked up.

"Riiight. The only person who notices girls less than you is Kaiba," Joey said as one of his cards fell from his hand to the floor, and he bent over to pick it up.

_I notice girls, _Kaiba thought critically as he examined the pencil he'd just accidently broken, _but none of the girls here particularly appeal to me._

Sighing, the billionaire got up to sharpen it at the same moment the girl in front of him stood. He collided with her back.

She had short, sandy blonde hair and before turning around she said, "Watch where you're going when…" She looked up to find Kaiba glaring down at her. Her face paled and she began to stammer as she bowed low, "M..my apologizes, Kaiba."

"Ugn." Kaiba grunted in response. He walked past the girl whose face flushed a dull pink as she retook her seat, forgetting why she had stood up in the first place.

_That's how every girl reacts,_ Kaiba thought, _They're rude until they see it's me and then suddenly their like Mary Freaking Poppins._ He registered the look on the girl's face as a mixture of embarrassment and was used to this kind of reaction by now, so he wasn't surprised that she was no exception. _Girls notice me more than I notice them._

_~~~DFAD~~~_

The rest of the day passed smoothly and then Yugi and his friends were back in front of their favorite game shop. They were discussing plans for Friday night, which was only two days away, when a glossy white limo sped by the shop at top speed.

"Of all the nerve," Joey said, only beginning on his rant. "That Kaiba's going to get what's coming when I getta hold of 'em."

Tristan laughed as Téa said, "Joey, we all know how much you want to take on Kaiba, you don't have to continuously–" But Yugi had stopped listening because Atem was demanding his full attention.

"_We know all of Kaiba's Limousines, and that was not one of them."_

_I know. What do you think it means? No one else in Domino has enough money to rent a Limo, let alone own one, _Yugi replied with a worried frown.

"_I can only speculate. But do you feel that? The wind has changed directions."_ Yugi and Atem stared after the Limo as it disappeared from sight.

[_A/N: Well that was chapter one, I hope you liked it. I like to establish a basis for a normal day before I bring in too much new stuff. That way you know how much the story is impacted._]


	2. Dark Dream

***Disclaimer*** (I do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" or the characters associated with it.)

**Chapter 2 – Dark Dream**

"_Yugi, you should be doing your homework."_ Atem chastised for the umpteenth time that night.

"But I've been so busy lately, and I hardly ever get to update our deck." Yugi whined as he stared down at the God cards.

"_Alright, but then you should at least get some sleep." _Atem said as he returned to the puzzle around Yugi's neck.

Yugi continued fantasizing about dueling again, really dueling. He longed for the speeches, the high-tech holograms, pulling out a victory at the last moment, and the feel of the cards as he drew them. Yugi sighed and wondered when he would duel for real again as he slowly became unconscious.

_~~~DFAD~~~_

Yugi found himself in a place he was sure he had never been before. He was wearing his school uniform but his Millennium puzzle was missing. Before he could completely lose his mind looking for it, he realized he was not alone in this place.

Atem stood a few feet away looking utterly lost. He was wearing his ancient Egyptian robes and was completely decked out. The Millennium puzzle was around his neck instead of around Yugi's.

"Yugi, what have you done?" Atem asked as he poked his own arm. He wasn't used to being this_ present_ when Yugi was as well.

"I don't know. I think this is a dream though." Yugi was at a loss of words after this statement, too consumed with his surroundings.

They were at a lake…that was about as much as they could see because of all the fog that was emitting from the lake. The water glittered, though there was no sun to cause this phenomenon. Suddenly the wind shifted directions and there was a thinning in the fog across the lake from them.

"Yes Atem, I felt that too." Yugi said before his counterpart could ask about the change in the wind. The Pharaoh looked at Yugi with a sense of amusement. How long had they been this close? Yugi knew what he was going to say before he said it. Yugi looked down at his feet in embarrassment at his thoughtless interjection.

"Hello." A quiet and attractive voice said from across the crystal lake. Both Yugi and the Pharaoh's heads snapped up at the unexpected sound. There, across from them was a figure in a dark black cloak that flowed to the ground.

Yugi couldn't help but feel terrified; it seemed that things were beginning to repeat themselves.

"Welcome to the Lake of Shadows." The cloaked figure said. From the way it sounded the figure was a woman, a very sophisticated and beautiful woman. "Care to duel?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid we must decline. You don't seem like the type to play fair." Atem said statically as he addressed the woman.

"I promise you, my intentions are nothing but honorable. I would simply like to play a game of Duel Monsters against the two of you." She replied back calmly.

"What's your name?" Yugi asked, hoping that if she really meant no harm she would answer.

"You may call me Aeris, and it is a pleasure to finally meet both of you."

"You know us?" Atem asked with suspicion evident in his voice.

"Not personally," she stated and then added, "Not yet. Now are we going to duel?"

"The two of us against you? That hardly seems fair." Yugi said with a frown.

"You're right, but I don't see another person around to give you more help." Even though her face wasn't visible it was obvious from her voice that she was smirking.

"You're on." They both replied.

And so they dueled; the two of them against the mysterious woman in the cloak. It was a very intense duel. They went back and forth hacking away at each other's lifepoints. Even while dueling she projected an air of grace. Aeris drew another card and she looked…scared? She was trembling in her cloak, obviously afraid of whatever card she had drawn. She simply put the card in her hand and continued her turn. Eventually, the winner was declared; Aeris.

"That was fun." Yugi said after the duel had ended. He had truly enjoyed dueling with her and she seemed to have enjoyed it as well.

"Indeed it was… thank you." She added the last two words after a slight pause.

"It was our pleasure." Yugi said as he smiled warmly at her.

"Even in a loss, we can still display good grace." Atem replied as he smiled slightly as well.

"I just got lucky."

"I don't think you did. Aeris, can I ask you a question?" Yugi inquired of her.

"Of course." She replied.

"What card did you draw? The one that you seemed to be so terrified of." Both Atem and Yugi looked at her for her answer and noticed she seemed…nervous? Her hands were clasped behind her back.

"I'm sorry, but I can't answer that question just yet." And she seemed truly sorry too.

"May I ask you something as well?" Atem inquired of her.

"You may." Aeris said keeping it as formal as Atem was.

"This isn't a dream…is it?"

A small but crooked smile slowly spread across her face as she replied, "That's very insightful of you Pharaoh. You are correct in thinking this is not a dream, and yet it is time that you awaken. Watch out, things in Shadows have a way of finding themselves in the light. That's all I can say. Until next time, farewell."

She bowed at the waist and the fog seemed to devour her, obscuring her from their sight. Yugi and Atem looked at each other in confusion again.

_~~~DFAD~~~_

Seconds later Yugi awakened in his bed wondering if that could have been real. Several miles away Seto Kaiba jolted upright in his bed, his back ramrod straight.


	3. Bright Dream

[_A/N: Originally I planned to not tell you what Kaiba's dream was about, but that seemed almost mean of me._]

***Disclaimer*** (Still don't own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" or the characters.)

**Chapter 3 – Bright Dream**

Several miles away Seto Kaiba jolted upright in his bed, his back ramrod straight. He was breathing heavily and sweat was dripping from the ends of his hair. When he realized he was in his room his posture loosened and he put a hand to his head.

_What was that? I wasn't myself at all I was…some love struck dog._ Kaiba was so disgusted with his behavior, even if it _had_ only been a dream. No matter what, he would NEVER reveal what had happened by that lake.

_~~~DFAD~~~_

_Where am I?_ Kaiba thought critically as he spun in a quick circle to view his surroundings. It was a lake, with lots of dense fog. There was lush green grass under his bare feet; where were his shoes? Just when he thought he was alone a voice spoke.

"Hello." was all it said. It was enough to force Kaiba to turn and find the source of sound. Standing across the lake was the figure who had spoken; he had to stifle a gasp.

She was beautiful. He had never used that word to describe a person before, but that was definitely what she was. Kaiba's breathing hitched as she began to walk around the lake towards him. She moved so gracefully that it would put the most professional of ballerinas to shame. She stopped in front of him and smiled warmly, as if they were old and dear friends.

He looked her over more closely. She was small, but not in a bad way. She was more than a full head shorter than he was, the top of her head would barely reach his chin. Her hair was a soft but dark brown that fell in loose curls down to her waist. She had bangs that were parted to the side, threatening to fall in her eyes. Her eyes, now there was a sight to see. Her eyes sparkled like diamonds, but were the color of emeralds. No, that didn't do them justice, her eyes made emeralds and diamonds look like stupid rocks. Her eyes were alive and vital, and looked so immensely gorgeous. There were two colors in them; a darker green that was her actual eye color and then a lighter green that was what made them appear to sparkle.

When Kaiba looked into her eyes he felt a strange… hunger? Was that the right word? He continued to look into her eyes. Yes, hunger was one way to describe it. He had a need to keep staring into them. Her cheeks began to warm slightly at the long staring he was doing into her eyes. He felt his stomach go weak when this happened and he had the urge to grab her face between his hands.

_What the hell is wrong with me? This doesn't make any logical sense!_ He felt the urge to touch her again when she looked down in embarrassment. He clenched his hands into fists and held his arms at his sides. He could not afford to touch her, and he would not be intoxicated by her. This was obviously a trap of some sort, a ploy to obtain something of value from him.

He noticed what she was wearing for the first time, a simple white dress. It looked lovely on her and he found himself staring at her exposed legs and neck. She looked up at him and he blushed. Kaiba blushed! He couldn't believe what was happening to him, why she was affecting him so damn much. He thought everything about her was perfect; her hair, eyes, skin, face, body...oh did she have a nice…what the hell was he doing?

He was finding it quite hard to look away from her. Her lips looked so soft and warm… inviting. He imagined what it would feel like to touch them with his finger, just to see if they were as soft as they looked. His imagination got the better of him and he was suddenly wondering what it would feel like to kiss them. Her lips parted slightly and he nearly came undone. She was bringing out the very worst of him, and half of him didn't mind at all.

Kaiba realized he had been staring at her lips for far longer than what was appropriate, then again none of this was appropriate for him. He had to say something to her; he didn't want her to leave.

"Hello." He said, his voice shaky and uncertain. What was wrong with him? He was Seto Kaiba! He was the CEO of a multibillion dollar corporation where he had board meetings and intimidated people for a living. And he was nervous about talking to her? Ridiculous! How long had it been since she had first said hello? Was she upset that he had looked at her that way? Why wasn't she saying anything? Kaiba was going mad with worry when she finally smiled.

"You may call me Aeris." Her voice was sweet and sounded like singing to him. He wanted to hear her say more.

"I'm Seto Kaiba." He had thought about just saying his name was Kaiba, which was what everyone else called him. But he wanted her to know him; he wanted her to say his first name.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Seto." This simple exchange of dialogue sent a shiver of pleasure down his spine. Most people called him Kaiba, only his little brother ever referred to him as Seto. He found that when people used his first name it seemed more personal, more intimate.

"You as well." Kaiba said, and he meant it. He never said anything unless he believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was true; don't take that the wrong way, he could lie and manipulate, but he didn't say things to please people.

"Would you like to duel?" she asked him as a wide smile appeared on her lips. She seemed absolutely delighted to be standing in front of him. So his next move had a little more confidence in it. He picked up his left hand and moved the bangs that had fallen in her eyes back to their original position. She leaned into his hand when he did this, encouraging him. He then let his hand trail down her face, then lightly lifted her chin up letting his hand drop afterward. She was exquisite, what had she asked him?

"Duel?" Kaiba asked perplexed.

She took a step closer to him and he felt his heart rate increase. She took her hand and placed it on his cheek. Did he just burst into flames? How was it possible that she had this level of affect on him? She looked down as if embarrassed by what she was doing and asked, "Will you duel with me, Seto?" She then looked up at him through her eyelashes and he nearly came undone again.

She was able to make him ache. He longed to be with her, to hold her, and to kiss her. He was infatuated by this girl, this woman. No longer was he able to ignore the attraction he felt towards her, but nor did he accept it. He knew he had feelings for her, but he hoped it was just a trick of the light, a fairytale gone wrong, and he would be back to himself soon. But another part of him was flying with these feelings, enjoying them to the fullest.

He couldn't disappoint a face like that; no it would be criminal to even think it. He took her other hand in his and murmured, "Of course." She smiled brightly and skipped to a spot a few feet across from him.

"Ready?" she asked as her duel disk suddenly materialized on her left arm. She looked quite cute with a duel disk on. Kaiba had never referred to anything as cute, except when making fun of Wheeler. But it was true, she looked unbearably cute.

"Yes, let's duel." Kaiba said as his confidence returned. No matter how beautiful this girl was, nothing and I mean nothing would make him lose on purpose. He would be dueling his hardest; he would not go easy on the poor girl.

Had he always been wearing his duel disk? He couldn't remember clearly, everything was blurry when he was with her. So confusing and unfocused and yet, he preferred it that way.

_She is exceptionally good at this, _Kaiba thought in surprise. Had she always been this confident? He had expected her to be horrible and he would finish her quick, so they could do more important things…

By the end of the duel he was stunned; it was impossible, simply impossible. No one had ever beaten him, except for a few first rate duelists. He hadn't expected her to be that good; maybe that was why he lost. Maybe he had subconsciously wanted her to win. But for whatever the reason, he had indeed lost.

"Great game, Seto!" She said as she ran straight at him and hugged him around his waist. An electric pulse went through his system and his arms immediately wound around her shoulders. He wanted badly to stay like this forever. She pulled back far too soon for his taste. Everything she did left him craving for more. He wanted her, bad.

"I have to go." She sounded saddened by this fact. Kaiba didn't like to see her sad, it did strange things to his mind and body.

"Don't," he countered, "Stay with me."

"I can't Seto, I have to go. I had a wonderful time dueling with you." If he had been expecting it, he would have acted sooner to stop her from leaving.

She took a small step towards him and lifted up onto her toes. She put her hand on his chest and kissed his cheek very softly. Kaiba was in shock, no one had ever done that to him before. It was so tender and caring, sweet and wonderful. She lowered down and turned away from him, walking back towards the lake. She turned around as the fog began to blur her features.

"Things in Shadows have a way of finding themselves in the light. Please be careful. Until next time, farewell…Seto." With that the fog completely enveloped her, leaving Kaiba alone by the lake.

_~~~DFAD~~~_

Kaiba shook his head as he remembered the intoxicating woman. He looked over at his clock; it was around the time he normally got up. He stood up and crossed the room to his closet and swung the door open. He had a need to make sure he still looked the same, because he felt very different. He looked at the floor length mirror on the door.

Nothing seemed different. He still looked like his normal self, though his smug and confident face was confused and self-conscious.

_I will not think of this girl again_, Kaiba vowed to himself. A vow that he had no idea he would shatter.

[_A/N: This is my favorite chapter so far; Kaiba being so un-Kaiba-ee XD_]


	4. New Girls

***Disclaimer*** (Unfortunately, I still don't own "Yu-Gi-Oh!", no implication of that here)

**Chapter 4 – New Girls**

Yugi had woken up several hours before he normally did; he spent the time doing the homework he had neglected to do the night before.

"_Yugi, I'm troubled by that dream last night. I'm not entirely convinced it was a dream, she did admit it wasn't."_ Atem said as he leaned on the desk next to Yugi.

"I know you think it wasn't a dream Pharaoh, but it just couldn't have been anything else." Yugi insisted as he chewed on his eraser.

"_Well Yugi, we have experienced stranger things._" Atem said smiling at his opposite. The multicolor haired boy smiled back and nodded, he might not understand but he had a feeling Atem was right. Atem disappeared back into the puzzle as Yugi looked back at his homework.

"I give up." He sighed as he grabbed his navy-blue blazer for school. Today he and Joey would just have to be early. He left the game shop with a wave and a "See you grandpa!" and made his way to Joey's.

"Joey!" Yugi shouted as he banged on Joey's door. He could hear movement in the house and he hoped Joey could hear him.

Joey opened the door and looked surprised to see Yugi there. Joey was still in his pajamas and his hair was worse than normal, sticking out in blonde disarrays. Yugi suppressed a laugh at Joey's appearance, but then he had never been over to Joey's house this early before.

"Yug? What are you doing here? Oh crap, I forgot about daylight savings again didn't I?" Joey started moving around his house in a panic, his blue eyes still hazy with sleep. Yugi stepped in the door trying to stop laughing long enough to explain.

"No, no Joey. I just came over early. Get ready and we'll head to school." Yugi said smiling as Joey slowed down.

"Yug, if it isn't daylight savings, why the 'ell are ya here so early? We still have an hour before the school even opens!" Joey was obviously angry at being woken up.

"Take it easy Joey. I need to talk to you, plus this way we won't be late." Joey grumbled but put his school uniform on anyway.

"Fine, let's go." The blonde said as he shoved Yugi out the door.

Yugi didn't start talking as they walked and Joey began to worry something was seriously wrong. He knew his best friend wouldn't wake him if it wasn't important. But why wasn't he talking now?

"So Yugi, what's up? Ya say ya gotta talk to me and then ya just get quiet." Yugi looked a bit uncomfortable. Joey wondered what could possibly make Yugi act this way.

"Well Joey, I had this dream–" Yugi was cut off by Joey who thought he now understood.

"Wait Yug, are ya having dreams about Téa again?" Joey asked as he put a hand out to stop Yugi from walking so that he could look at him.

"No, no!" Yugi said obviously embarrassed. He might be embarrassed but he certainly wasn't lying either.

"Alright then," Joey said as they continued to walk to school. "What is it?"

"I'll tell you, only if you promise not to laugh." Yugi said as he tried to stop blushing from the comment about Téa.

By the time Yugi got done telling Joey about the dream he and Atem had had they were sitting on the steps of the school. The school was already open but they decided to stay put.

"So you and Atem both had 'dis dream? But you say Atem don't think it's a dream at all. Yug, that sounds a bit crazy." Joey admitted with a shake of his head.

"I know." Yugi confessed as he looked down at his shoes.

"Then again, we have had stranger things happen. With what's happened to us before we can't think lightly of 'dis…" Yugi looked up at his best friend and nodded, happy that he had Joey at his side. "Okay so you said there was this girl right. Was she pretty?"

Yugi started laughing; he couldn't believe he actually thought Joey would take this seriously. Joey joined in and then added a "No seriously!" which caused Yugi to double over. When he was able to breathe again he answered Joey.

"I honestly don't know Joey. She was wearing a cloak and it was kind of foggy."

"But you are sure it was a girl, right?" Joey asked as he looked at Yugi with concern.

"Yeah, why?" Yugi asked cautiously as he looked at Joey's expression.

"Nothing…" Was all Joey said as he looked out towards the gate and sneered, "Looks like Moneybags came to school early today."

Yugi knew he must be talking about Kaiba, so he looked towards the gate too. He saw a white, glossy limousine slowing down as it approached the gates. Atem appeared beside the two boys and looked wearily at Yugi.

"_Yugi, I have a bad feeling about this. That's not Kaiba's Limo, but it is the same one as yesterday." _Atem declared as the Limo slowed to a stop. Yugi nodded discreetly and turned to face the gates.

"Joey, I don't think that's Kaiba's limo."

"What do ya mean, Yugi?" They were both staring at the limo as the chauffeur got out and went to open the door. All three of them were shocked when a girl stepped out. Just then the wind shifted directions; Atem and Yugi both stiffened.

She had dark black hair with bright blue streaks; it came down just past her shoulders. Her skin was very white, her figure tall and lean. She looked a bit intimidating. Her eyes were a pale blue and they were surprised to see she was wearing their school uniform; she must be new because they had never seen her before. She pushed past the chauffeur without thanking him and began walking towards the school.

"_Be on guard." _Atem warned.

"Hello, I'm Joey Wheeler." Joey said as he stood up and introduced himself to the girl.

She stopped beside them and looked Joey up and down. She then sneered and said, "Hmph, Mikaila. Where's the office?" She was rather blunt and rude to Joey, and Yugi could tell he was about to do something stupid. He wanted to warn him against it but didn't have time before Joey replied.

"Down the main hall, second door on the right." Joey said coldly. Yugi quickly jumped up. Instead of thanking Joey, Mikaila gave him and Yugi a look that sent chills down their spines, and then she just walked into the school. That look was so strange and cruel that Yugi was glad Joey had responded the way he did.

"You're welcome!" Joey shouted after her. They all watched the doors close. "Looks like we got ourselves another Kaiba."

"Wow Joey, I'm surprised you didn't do something mean to her." Yugi couldn't help but smile at Joey's restraint.

"Yug, you do know what the second door on the right is, don't you?" Joey had an evil smile on his face. Yugi thought about it for a moment then gasped.

Joey laughed and held up his hand for a high five that Yugi returned. "You sent her into a janitor's closet. Joey, you shouldn't have done that, you'll have to apologize later. But she was rude, even the Pharaoh found her odd." Yugi said as he put his hand behind his head and rubbed it nervously.

"Atem didn't like her ey'? Say Yugi, you don't think your dream about the Shadows and that new girl could have anything to do with each other, do ya?"

"_That's exactly what I'm thinking. What are the odds that we get warned about 'the Shadows' in a dream and then this rude girl appears the next day?" _Atem stated as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Atem seems to think so; we better keep an eye on her just in case. It feels like this has happened before. I'll tell the others about my dream later." Yugi promised.

"Ya, we should all sit around and discuss this. It's starting to bother me; you dream about a pretty girl in a cloak, then this girl who's kinda cute but really snotty shows up. What d'ya think?" Joey asked Yugi. It amazed Yugi how Joey could be serious one minute and a complete goof the next.

"It could have been a warning about this girl, it could have not. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see."

"No Yugi, I meant whether you thought she was cute or not."

"Ha, Joey every time I think you're serious you turn–"

"Excuse me." A shy voice said from behind them. They turned and saw a very pretty brunette girl looking at them from the top of the steps. She had green eyes and a red ribbon in her hair. She was wearing their school's uniform, but just like with Mikaila Yugi couldn't remember ever seeing her in this school before.

"Yes?" Yugi said kindly, because Joey seemed incapable of speech.

"Could you perhaps tell me where I could find the front office? I'm new."

Joey seemed to finally have found his voice and said, "First door on the right." He was still staring at her with wide eyes. Yugi wanted to hit him in the ribs but he was sure she would notice. She gave Joey a small smile and nodded her head once.

"Thank you." She said as she walked through the front door of the school.

Joey stared after her and too late for her to hear replied softly, "You're welcome." He then spun to face Yugi and said, "Please tell me you saw her!"

"Of course I saw her Joey, are you okay?" Yugi was worried Joey was losing it.

"Just makin sure she wasn't a day dream. She sure was pretty." Joey said as he turned back to look at the door. Yugi shook his head at his weird friend, though he did have to admit that she had been rather attractive.

"_Yugi, I don't think we should take this lightly. Two new students show up after our dream, one or both of them could be involved in these Shadows."_ Atem said as he disappeared back into the puzzle. Yugi didn't agree with the Pharaoh about the brown haired girl, but he relayed the message to Joey anyway.

"Atem thinks that we should keep an eye on her as well."

Joey turned around and looked at Yugi like he was crazy. "Who, her? There's no way she could be a threat. Now, with that Mikaila it makes sense, but not her."

"I agree with you Joey, but we should humor the Pharaoh, he does tend to be rather insightful. We'll just have to keep an eye on them both." Yugi said as he and Joey moved out of the way for the rest students who were just arriving at school.

Their friends eventually showed up and they all walked together to class. Téa made a sarcastic comment about how they were on time for once and they all enjoyed a laugh. They took their seats and the bell rang for the day to begin. That's when Yugi noticed Mikaila standing in the front of the classroom, looking positively smug.

[_A/N: Mwwahahaha! So who do you think the problem's going to be? The snotty and stuck-up Mikaila? Or the mysterious and sweet other girl? I guess you'll just have to wait and find out._]


	5. Impressions

***Disclaimer*** (Sadly I do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!")

**Chapter 5 – Impressions**

"We have a new student," Mr. Hayashi announced, "Introduce yourself." He barked at Mikaila. He was under the impression that students needed to have more confidence and be more independent. _Like Mr. Kaiba_, he thought.

"Hmph, my name is Mikaila Renewal and I'm eighteen," she said confidently. Then she turned around to Mr. Hayashi and added, "That's all you need to know." Mr. Hayashi was surprised she hadn't shared more information and even more so that she had been that rude to him. She didn't lack the independence and confidence, but she definitely lacked manners.

"Very well Miss Renewal, take a seat behind Mr. Wayland." Mikaila took her bag and went to the second seat in the first row. She was immediately greeted by the girl beside her. It seemed that despite how outwardly bitter she was, people still wanted to associate with her.

"Now that we are situated we'll be working with an example problem. I'm going to write the problem and the solution on the board, you will copy it, and then I will tell you how I came up with that answer." Mr. Hayashi said as he began writing a complex string of numbers and symbols on the board.

Kaiba was trying to pay attention, he truly was, but his mind kept wondering back to the girl and the lake, and he hated himself for it. He found himself staring at a blank sheet of paper while everyone else copied down Mr. Hayashi's problem. When he snapped out of his reverie for the fourth time he noticed the new girl…Mikaila was it?…staring at him. He looked at her as she quickly hid behind her hair and began copying the problem. _Great, another fan, _he thought sarcastically as he attempted to focus on school.

The door to their classroom swung open and all heads snapped up, eyes locking on the door. Half of the class expected Yugi and Joey to enter, forgetting that for once they were already seated in the classroom. Instead in tripped the other new girl; the brown haired goddess.

Kaiba gasped when he saw the girl, _Aeris!? This isn't possible. It has to be some kind of sick joke. She couldn't have been real._ But even as he denied the likelihood of the circumstances, he began to notice the similarities between the two girls.

Their hair and eye color were exactly the same. The shape of their lips, eyes, legs, and other…assets were also identical. The only visible difference he could find was that the girl had tripped on her way in, which was not something Aeris would have done.

Kaiba was not alone in his reaction to the girl. Most of the males in the class reacted in similar ways, so he did not stand out.

"Ah, Miss Porter I presume?" the girl nodded shyly at Mr. Hayashi. He was rather irked that she was going to be just like every other student in his class; late and stupid. "Late on the first day, not the best way to start the year." The girl blushed and walked to Mr. Hayashi handing him her slip.

"Well, introduce yourself." Mr. Hayashi said as he sat on his stool. He had made it through three lines of the example problem and he was not at all pleased with her interruption.

The girl's eyes widened and her eyebrows shot up into her bangs. She evidently had not expected that she would have to make an introduction. She was an intriguing girl. She wore little if no make-up, her hair was slightly out of place, and her clothes were not snug on her; but at these things didn't distract from the fact the she was radiantly glorious.

"Miss Porter, introduce yourself." Mr. Hayashi hated to repeat anything. This girl was going to bring him so many problems.

The girl opened her mouth but no sound came out. She was stunned, and speechless.

"NOW!" Mr. Hayashi yelled at her. She jumped and whimpered, dropping her bag she spun to face the class.

"I'm seventeen, I moved here from Egypt. I enjoy reading, and…and…I'm um done?" she asked as she turned back to face Mr. Hayashi.

He sighed; this was going to be difficult. There were only two empty seats in the classroom, both of which were next to Mister Kaiba. He hoped silently that some of his genius would rub off on this pathetic girl. "Very well Miss Porter, take a seat next to Mister Kaiba and Miss Gardner." Kaiba gave no indication of who he was, but Téa raised her hand helpfully. The girl grabbed her dropped bag and went to the fourth row and sat behind Joey.

Everyone watched as the Porter girl took her seat, quickly got out her notes, and began to copy the equation on the board without being told. She had already copied down the first line when Mr. Hayashi regained their attention. He continued with the equation while the class half paid attention.

Kaiba was finding it hardest to pay attention with her sitting right next to him. He wanted badly to reach out and touch her, just to make sure she was real. He was lying to himself, that wasn't his only reason for wanting to touch her. He felt everything for her that he had felt for the girl in his dream. He hated how this tiny wretch was affecting his systems and manipulating his thoughts.

The Porter girl stopped writing causing several students, Kaiba included, to look at her. She looked at what she had written and raised her hand. Behind her Duke shook his head.

"I wouldn't do that babe." He warned. She turned, not exactly sure if the boy was addressing her. The black haired boy shook his head at her, loving the lost puppy look in her eyes; but she kept her hand stubbornly in the air. Turning back to the front, she noticed Mr. Hayashi couldn't see her with his back to the class. So she spoke.

"Mr. Hayashi?" she asked cautiously.

Mr. Hayashi reluctantly turned around and saw her hand in the air. The class all sighed when they realized what she was doing; this should be amusing. Mr. Hayashi suppressed a groan. "Miss Porter, I don't believe I told you this so I will simply let you off with a warning, this goes for you too Miss Renewal. In my class questions are traditionally left for the end of the lesson so I am not interrupted. Hold all questions until then," he said as he half turned back to the board. She didn't lower her hand so he turned back to the class.

"Miss Porter did you not understand me?" He was now slightly more than irritated._ Could this girl really be so dense?_

"I understood you Mr. Hayashi," she responded kindly with her hand still in the air.

Now he was truly angry, "Then what is it?"

She put her hand down and looked at her notes, then back at the board. "Well, on line two the plus between the '16x squared' and the '47xy cubed' should be a minus."

Mr. Hayashi looked stunned. _Impossible,_ he thought as he turned to look at the problem. He was surprised as he picked up the eraser and changed the plus to a minus. He turned back to her and said, "Very impressive Miss Porter." She smiled shyly and continued to write the rest of the equation. "Oh and Miss Porter," she looked up at him and he continued with a smile, "Welcome to Domino High."

"Thank you, sir." She murmured as she blushed and looked pointedly at her notes. No one had been welcomed to class by Mr. Hayashi since Seto Kaiba had shown up. Everyone was in shock; the boys impressed and fascinated by her beauty and wit, the girls envious and jealous of all the attention she was receiving. They were surprised to see that even Kaiba was looking at her; he never even glanced at a girl, so for Kaiba this was practically drooling.

Everyone paid more attention to the lesson with the Porter girl there; everyone trying to impress or beat her. The hour moved quickly and soon the bell rang announcing the start of free time.

"As always we will resume lessons in thirty minutes." Mr. Hayashi said as he stretched and sat down in his chair.

Mikaila began to talk animatedly to the girls around her, glancing occasionally at Kaiba and Porter. The other new girl simply took out a thin black book and began to read. Joey turned around to face her and smiled.

"Hey, I'm Joey Wheeler. I don't think I caught your first name," he said as he held out his hand.

The girl looked surprised, but pleased that he had introduced himself. She was clearly uncomfortable in a class full of strangers. She slowly reached out her hand and shook Joey's saying, "I'm Alice, Alice Porter." Her smile grew more pronounced when she added, "You're the boy who helped me find the office this morning."

Joey was happy she remembered. "Yeah, Yugi and I were happy to help," he replied as he gestured to Yugi.

Yugi smiled at Alice and said, "Hi, I'm Yugi Muto."

She nodded and said, "I've heard of you, you're the King of Games, correct?" She had closed her book and was now absorbed in the conversation at hand.

"That's right." Yugi said a little embarrassed. This made Joey's day as he reclaimed Alice's attention.

"What have you heard about me?" he asked excitedly. Joey absolutely hated it when people didn't know who he was.

"Joey, no one would know anything about you." Duke said then added to Alice, "Hi, I'm Duke Devlin, I'm sure you've heard of me though. I invented Dungeon Dice Monsters. It's a pleasure to meet you Alice." He reached out and took her hand, kissing it. Kaiba nearly jumped out of his chair; he wanted badly to smack Devlin across the room for touching _his_ girl like that.

Kaiba mentally chastised himself for thinking of Porter as _his_ girl; he had no interest in a harpy. He was confident his reaction was simply that he was tired of Devlin doing the same routine again and again. If she was half as smart as she had demonstrated earlier, she would backhand him now. Kaiba smirked to himself at the thought of Porter backhanding Devlin during class.

Alice laughed nervously and folded her hands in her lap. She seemed to feel more comfortable talking with Joey so she replied, "Let's see, Joey Wheeler you said? You were second in Duelist Kingdom if I'm not mistaken." Joey smiled so she took it as a conformation and she continued, "You were fourth in Battle city, and you also participated in Kaiba's Grand Championship."

Kaiba tried to ignore the chills that he got when Alice said his name. He had half expected her to call him Seto, but then he remembered that had been Aeris in his dream.

This was beginning to really grate on his nerves. The girl was so infuriating; speaking of him as if he were not right there. It was as if she had no idea who he was, then he wondered; _could she have no idea who I am?_

"See Duke, people do know who I am." Joey said happily. Tristan leaned around Joey and looked at Alice.

"I'm Tristan Taylor; I taught Joey everything he knows." Joey shook his head at Tristan; he had heard him use that one before. Alice giggled as Téa and Bakura introduced themselves too. Everyone in the class was discreetly listening to their conversations with Alice.

"Are you a duelist, Alice?" Yugi asked; Atem had appeared next to his desk and requested Yugi question her without making it too obvious.

"No, I'm afraid I'm not. That's the one thing I could never get the hang of. Dueling never really appealed to me." She added with a nervous laugh.

"It's okay Alice, I don't duel either." Téa said smiling at her.

Alice seemed to get a bit more comfortable with Téa's reassurance. "I was worried I would have been the only one," Alice confessed.

_Well Atem, it doesn't look like she could be a threat. She doesn't even know how to duel, _Yugi thought.

"_We still need to keep an eye on her, just in case." _Atem said as he went back into the puzzle. Just then Yugi noticed that Kaiba was paying more attention to Alice than he did to anyone else. As a matter of fact, everyone was paying quite a bit of attention to her.

_Well Alice can't be Aeris if she doesn't duel,_ Seto thought with a mixture of relief and chagrin. He was determined to prove that Alice would not have the same effect that Aeris had on him. Kaiba got up to go and sharpen his pencil; he really wanted to get a better look at Alice to compare the resemblance. Mikaila stood up as well and fell into him.

"Whoops. I'm so sorry Kaiba, I didn't see you there." Mikaila said as she straightened her skirt.

Kaiba suppressed a sigh and said, "Next time watch where you're going." He walked around her and continued to the pencil sharpener. Mikaila stood there with her mouth open. Obviously that hadn't worked out like she had hoped. She sat down in defeat as the other girls nursed her wounded ego.

Kaiba wished it had been Alice instead of Mikaila that purposefully fell into him. He made a plan to run into her later in the day to see if her reactions were similar to the other girls, but he was certain they would be.

Mr. Hayashi called the class back to order and he finished writing the equation. He explained everything in detail and by the time he was done it was the lunch bell tolled.

Yugi's group grabbed their lunches and headed for their normal table outside. The rest of the classroom emptied as well until only Kaiba and Alice were left.

Once again Alice brought out her book and began to read. Kaiba got out his work and began to pretend to crunch numbers. He was really absorbed with the fact that he and Alice were now alone in the classroom. Should he say something to her? If so what? He could hardly admit that he had had a vivid dream about her last night and now he was infatuated by her mere presence. No, not infatuated, simply intrigued. He was about to ask her how she had known the plus was supposed to be a minus when Téa reentered the classroom.

"Hey, Alice," she said as she held open the door.

"Yes?" Alice replied as she put her finger in her book to mark her place.

"We're eating lunch outside, come on."

Alice smiled and closed her book, "Alright." She set her book on her desk. When Alice stood she looked at Kaiba. It sent heat through his normally cold veins; he hated how she affected him. She didn't shrink back as Kaiba glared at her openly, instead there was the tiniest impression of a smile playing on her lips. She walked towards the door but paused in front of the class, as if torn between going with Téa and staying in class with Kaiba. She closed her eyes as she bit her lip tenderly; and then she followed Téa out of the room. Kaiba was left gapping after the two girls.

_I will not let her out of my sight,_ he vowed. He put his work away and grabbed his laptop. He sometimes went outside and worked on it, wanting a bit of fresh air. He would simply pretend that this was the case. If Yugi and his goons sat in their same spot, Kaiba would simply sit against the tree next to their table. It was far enough away that he wasn't considered part of their group, but close enough that he could still hear their conversations.

_So much for not thinking about Aeris, _Kaiba thought glumly as he sat down against the tree. He had been right about where Téa had taken Alice. _Alice might not be Aeris, but she affects me the same way. She will be mine, and I will find out what relation they share._ Kaiba thought as he settled in to listen to their conversation.

[_A/N: Well I figured this chapter is long enough. Criticism would be nice, as long as you put a smiley at the end so I know you still love me :D_]


	6. Invitations

***Disclaimer*** (I don't own "Yu-Gi-Oh!", I'm not nearly creative enough.)

**Chapter 6 – Invitations**

Téa and Alice joined the gang at the usual table. Téa was pleased that everyone greeted her kindly. But something was still bothering her; never had she seen Kaiba look at anyone that way. Sure she had seen him glare at Yugi and Joey on occasion, but not the way he had at Alice. He seemed to genuinely hate the poor girl. Then again…

_~~~DFAD~~~ _

"_Ah, Miss Porter I presume?" the girl nodded shyly at Mr. Hayashi. She seemed to be very shy, oh dear. "Late on the first day, not the best way to start the year." She blushed as she handed Mr. Hayashi her slip. This was going to be hell for her. "Well, introduce yourself." _

_The girl's eyes widened, she seemed terrified of what he had said._ _Téa instinctively leaned forward towards her; she wanted badly to help her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the rest of the class do the same thing. They all seemed mesmerized by this girl, enchanted into wanting to help. She seemed so defenseless and weak. _

"_Miss Porter, introduce yourself." Mr. Hayashi repeated. The girl opened her mouth but no sound came out. She was stunned, and speechless._ _Téa looked to her right and saw a very confused expression on Kaiba's face. While he was not leaning towards her, his expression had softened infinitesimally. His normally cold and arrogant eyes seemed to have melted; they now appeared warm and kind. It gave Téa goose-bumps to see Kaiba look so, normal. He looked much more human than what he naturally allotted. She wondered if he even noticed the change himself. _

"_NOW!" Mr. Hayashi yelled at her. She jumped, causing her bag to hit the ground. A small whimper escaped her lips and Téa saw Kaiba's hand curl into a clinched fist. He couldn't possibly want to defend her? He was Seto Kaiba, the man rumored to kick puppies and insult small children. And yet here was proof, she obviously had some kind of effect on him._

_She hurried through an explanation of who she was, forgetting to tell them her first name. When she took her seat next to Kaiba his eyes hardened, and they seemed to burn with hatred. Téa could have sworn she saw Kaiba's hand twitch towards the new girl, but for what reason. Perhaps he did hate her and wanted to throttle her or… Téa suppressed a giggle; or perhaps he had another form of contact on his mind._

___~~~DFAD~~~ _  


Whatever the reason for Kaiba's sudden attention, Téa would protect her. She was so small and sweet, she didn't want to see Kaiba ruin her. Téa quickly glanced at Kaiba sitting against a tree not far from them. He seemed engrossed by his work, maybe he had just come out for fresh air.

"I don't understand a thing Mr. Hayashi has been rambling about." Joey admitted as he took a bite of his burger.

"Maybe if you actually paid attention, it would make sense." Duke joked as he hit Joey's back causing the blonde to choke.

"I pay attention, just not all the time." Joey was awarded by a small giggle from Alice. For a moment everyone just listened to her laugh, it was so musical and pleasant; like silver bells, or wind chimes.

"Joey if you need help I could assist you," she said kindly.

Duke reached over and took Alice's hands in his own. "Isn't she just the most darling thing! You can _assist_ me anytime." Duke added in a whisper. Alice looked at him in shock and then he winked at her. She seemed uncomfortable with her hands in Duke's.

"Duke get your hands off her, you know that's not what she meant." Joey said as he grabbed Alice's wrist gently and tugged her away from the conceited boy. Once she was standing Joey pulled her to a spot in-between himself and Yugi.

"There," Joey muttered softly to Alice, "Now you're next to the two people least likely to hit on you." Alice smiled up at him and mouthed a "Thank you."

They continued to talk about school related subjects when Atem appeared behind Yugi.

_"Ask her what Egypt was like," _Atem commanded Yugi.

_Why? You can't honestly still be suspicious of her._ Atem gave Yugi the "just do it" look so the violet eyed boy obliged.

"So Alice, what was Egypt like?" he didn't want to appear too interested in her answer.

She laughed while rolling her eyes and replied, "Hot and sandy. The thing I loved most about Egypt was the climate; I've never really enjoyed the cold."

"Well you'll be in for a lovely surprise in a few weeks; the temperature's been unseasonably cold." Téa said kindly.

"I actually lived in Domino for the first seven years of my life. I moved to Egypt and now I'm back again. Hopefully I'll be able to adjust soon. I'm already more than a little uncomfortable with the weather." She rubbed her arm up and down as if trying to warm it up. She had a slight frown on her lips.

"You know Alice," Duke said as he leaned around Joey, "My jacket is always open to you."

She shifted her eyes to the pile of trash in the middle of the table. "I'll go throw this away," she mumbled as she grabbed the pile.

"You don't have to do that," Yugi protested; she hadn't eaten a thing and here she was offering to throw away their trash.

"I don't mind, _really_." She looked at Yugi then meaningfully at Duke. Yugi understood, she was trying to avoid Duke's persistence; poor girl.

She grabbed the empty trays and walked off. When she was out of ear shot they began talking again.

"So what do you guys think about her?" Yugi asked for Atem's sake.

"Well she's a very sweet girl," Téa said smiling after her.

"She's also fairly pretty," Tristan added honestly.

"She's exceedingly smart as well," Bakura commented.

"She's absolutely mouth watering." Duke growled.

Joey's hand came up so fast Duke didn't have time to dodge. Joey hit Duke in the back of the head and said, "Watch it."

"What's gotten into you Wheeler, you're being awfully protective of her." Duke accused as he rubbed his head.

"Maybe dat's because you're being a complete pig, Devlin. I don't know what it is bout her, but she reminds me of my sister." Joey confessed.

_So the mutt thinks of Alice like a sister, _Kaiba sneered. He had to admit that he got immense pleasure out of watching Duke's eyes water. If Wheeler hadn't of acted when he did he was sure he would have. Though Duke's comment had been completely truthful, Kaiba hated that anyone thought of her that way but him. He turned to watch her pass as she went to dump the trays. That's when he noticed the boy pacing close by.

The boy was from their class, though Kaiba could not recall his name. He stopped pacing as Alice passed him, not even noticing he was there. He walked behind her to the trash can as she threw the trays in. When she turned around she ran straight into him, causing her to lose her balance and fall. The boy caught her wrist and pulled her into his chest before she could hit the ground. She stared wide-eyed at the boy and a light pink blush began to color her perfect cheeks. Kaiba told himself it was just from the embarrassment and had nothing to do with the boy in general. How he hated that boy so abruptly in this moment. He hated his hands on her wrist and shoulder, how he curved around her. His hands bawled into fists on his laptop.

"I'm so sorry," Alice murmured as she attempted to take a step away from the boy she had run into. He didn't allow it, and held her securely against his chest.

"Are you alright, I should have been watching where I was going." He smiled at her as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Kaiba nearly uprooted the tree he was leaning against. How dare he make it seem like an accident, how dare he touch her! His thoughts were a hopeless snarl. He wanted badly to punch the cocky child in the face for touching her like that, but he knew that would attract too much attention.

Alice attempted to step away from him again, this time he allowed it. She said thank you and started to return to her table. He caught her wrist and spun her back to face him.

"Wait," he pleaded, "I didn't even get to introduce myself; I'm Allen Haystings." He said as he released Alice's arm.

_So the annoying child was Haystings. He was obviously irritated that he got stuck behind Mikaila instead of Alice, _Kaiba thought critically.

"It's nice to meet you Allen," Alice said as she shifted her weight; she was uncomfortable standing next to him, that much was obvious.

"Listen, how about I take you to dinner tonight; to apologize for nearly trampling you," he said with a sly smile. "I feel so bad for almost knocking you over. Perhaps tonight I can walk with you and so this doesn't happen again." He was talking to her as if she were a glass doll surrounded by people throwing rocks.

Alice's small and manicured hands curled into fists at her sides; Allen might not have noticed, but Kaiba sure did. She gritted her teeth and as politely as she could said, "I have a previous engagement," and she walked away from him. He was left standing by the trash can, his mouth slightly ajar.

As she walked away Kaiba saw that she was truly irritated by what the Haystings boy had said. _So she doesn't like to be thought of as weak, _Kaiba thought with a smile. _She has a lot of fire and anger for such a sweet girl. I never would have expected that…it makes her more appealing. Who likes a girl who gives in to everything?_

When she passed Kaiba her hands relaxed out of their fists and she sighed. _She must not like all the attention; well she's just going to have to deal with it._ Kaiba thought smugly as he pictured the ways he could charm the girl. He could ask her to walk with him, being kind she would naturally agree. Then when they were out of sight he would push her into the wall, lean against her small and beautiful body, and see how mouthwatering she really was. He licked his lips as he thought of all the different ways to get her alone.

She sat down at the table and looked over her shoulder at him. It wasn't a look he had received from any girl before; it was penetrating, like she was searching for something. When their eyes met she blushed and quickly turned back around. _Finally a rational response from her_! He liked how the blush made him want her more, how it rolled his stomach and made his head spin.

"So Alice we were thinking of going to see a movie on Friday night, would you like to come?" Yugi asked brunette when she was situated.

"I don't know, I've never really been to the movies before." Alice admitted sheepishly.

"Then my request is now mandatory. It would be nice for you to get to experience what it feels like to have a fun night in Domino." Yugi said smiling. Originally he had invited Alice to appease Atem, now he was happy he had.

"Wow Yugi, I never thought you were the type to demand things." Mikaila had suddenly appeared at the end of their table with another girl from their class, Katie Collins. "Besides, there's nothing fun to do in this good for nothing dump anyway." Mikaila dramatically plugged her nose as Katie laughed.

"If you think it's such a dump why don'tcha move back to where ya came from," Joey inquired.

"Katie, I think the dog is addressing me. Yugi you should buy your pet a muzzle before he says something that will really get him in trouble," Mikaila threatened darkly.

"Wheeler I came over here to insult you myself but it looks like Renewal took care of it for me. Perhaps a shock collar as well," Kaiba suggested with his famous smirk.

"Good one, Seto." Mikaila said as she took her tray and dumped it all over Joey's head. Joey growled and jumped up, with every intention to throttle her, but Yugi grabbed his arm and held him back.

Mikaila and Katie stood there laughing. Then Mikaila added, "Good thing Yugi was here Wheeler, or you might have gotten hurt. I hope I _don't_ see you dweebs later," they began to walk away when she added, "And I can't wait for our date, Seto."

"Ha, Kaiba you agreed to a date with da Smurf? Never thought even you would think to stoop that low," Joey said as Alice tried to help him get rid of the garbage in his hair.

"I didn't know you were interested in Mikaila, Kaiba." Yugi said conversationally.

"I'm not," Kaiba said simply, "The girl is just delusional." There was an awkward silence as Kaiba and Joey stared each other down. If it wasn't for Alice, Kaiba was sure he would have said a few more insults.

To break the tension Yugi asked, "Have you met Alice yet, Kaiba?" It had always bothered Kaiba that no matter how insulting he was toward Yugi and his friends, Yugi always tried to kind to him.

"I know him," Alice replied with a smirk. This shocked Kaiba, _maybe she is Aeris._

"What!?" Everyone at the table exclaimed.

Her smirk became a smile as she looked from Kaiba to her friends and said, "Everyone knows him. He's Seto Kaiba, the CEO of Kaiba Corp. He throws elaborate dueling competitions almost every year." Everyone relaxed when she explained what she had meant.

"Well it looks like you've added another loser to your squad; at least this one actually has a brain." Kaiba said as he walked back into the school.

"Is he always that insulting?" Alice asked with a frown as she stared after him.

"Who, Kaiba? Pretty much all the time," Téa said as she grabbed her book bag. The bell had just rung, "Come on guys. Let's go before we're late."

"So are you coming to the movies with us tomorrow, Alice?" Duke asked hopefully.

"Well, I suppose it could be fun," she said smiling at her new group of friends.

"Who are you kiddin girly, you're gunna have the best time ever!" Joey exclaimed as he threw his hands in the air for dramatic effect. They all laughed as they made their way back into the school.

All the students filed into their classrooms for the remainder of their lessons. As the rest of the day progressed, Kaiba found himself less and less interested in the subject and more interested in the girl next to him. When the final bell rang he didn't know how much longer he could have gone without talking to her. Everyone gathered their things and left the classroom. Kaiba waited for everyone to leave before he put his things away. Normally he would have been the first to exit the classroom, but he wanted to walk past Alice. He promised himself it was purely for experimental reasons, just to gauge her reaction.

When he got to the front door he heard Alice say goodbye to her friends as they left to go to their favorite burger joint. They had invited Alice but she had declined. As he approached her she turned and looked up at him. As coolly as he could manage he said, "Porter," acknowledging her existence, but not taking it too far. She nodded and replied just as coolly, "Kaiba." With that he got into his limo and rode off.

At Burger World Yugi, Joey, Téa, and Tristan sat discussing Yugi's dream and the two new students.

"Atem thinks we should keep an eye on both of them just in case." Yugi said after describing the dream.

"I think it's a good idea, though I doubt Alice is involved." Téa said as she drank some of her milkshake.

"Mikaila definitely seems like da type though, connivin and evil…come to think of it she seems just like Kaiba." Joey said while popping another french-fry into his mouth.

"It seems like this kind of thing happens a lot to us; mysterious warning followed by new people showing up who appear to be friendly; well one of them at least." Tristan commented.

"You're right, this kind of thing does happen to us a lot," Téa decided.

"Well we can keep an eye on them, if they do have anything to do with these Shadows we'll be there," Tristan promised.

"But are we really sure we wanna be dere, I mean come on guys, how many times have we saved da world already?" Joey asked as he nearly knocked over his soda.

"Of course we want to be there Joey, don't be ridiculous. Although sometimes I do wish the world would just stay saved," Téa sighed.

"Well whatever their intentions I hope we find out before it's too late." Yugi said as he paid the check and they left the restaurant.

Kaiba's limo pulled up to Mokuba's school as the young boy ran from the building. He didn't wait for the chauffer to open the door; instead he dove into the limo through the open window, practically landing on Kaiba. Mokuba quickly righted himself and took the side seat. Kaiba didn't understand the mannerism of his little brother and why he insisted on acting so childish. He sighed, but then noticed the first signs of bruising on Mokuba's face.

"What happened?" Kaiba almost growled. He had seen this before and it made him want to strangle the person responsible.

"What are you talking about, Seto?" Mokuba asked innocently as he turned to face the window, deliberately turning the bruised cheek away.

Kaiba reached over and abruptly turned Mokuba to face him, examining the damage. "I'm talking about the status of your face."

"It was an accident…I…I fell." Mokuba stuttered out.

"Mokuba," Kaiba sighed, "Why do you continue to defend these worthless fiends? They beat you and all you do is remain silent. When I find out who they are…" Kaiba let the sentence hang in the air.

"Don't Seto," Mokuba pleaded, "They're doing this for my own good. They say that it will make me as tough as you…" He was embarrassed he had admitted that.

Kaiba snarled, "The last thing those imbeciles have on their mind is your welfare. Besides you're tough enough without the bruises." Kaiba said in an attempt to comfort his brother.

Mokuba smiled, he thought it was sweet…well for Seto anyway. He liked that his big brother cared so much for him, it made him feel wanted. He was tired of the scowl on his brother's face so he decided to change the subject.

"So how was your day big brother?" Mokuba noticed that Seto's fists tightened, his jaw clenched, and there was an unmistakable glint in his hardened eyes.

"Fine," Kaiba replied curtly. Mokuba wasn't going to let this go, it was so obvious something had happened.

"Come on Seto, I told you about my day tell me about yours." Kaiba was refusing to acknowledge Mokuba's request. "Was it something with Yugi?" No change in Kaiba's expression, "What about with the rest of the gang?" He saw a tiny flicker in his mask. So something happened with Yugi and his gang. This worried Mokuba; he really liked what his brother referred to as "the geek squad".

"Seto, please. They're my friends too–" That was the wrong thing to say. Kaiba turned in his seat to glare at Mokuba.

"They are _NOT _my friends, and I rather they weren't yours either." Kaiba stated dryly.

"Well they are, so what happened?" Mokuba insisted. Kaiba resumed staring at the privacy divider, they were almost to the mansion; if he could just make it there…

Mokuba hadn't seen Seto this angry since one of his fangirls had jumped on him when he had been trying to buy a new trench coat. "Is it girl trouble?" Mokuba inquired.

There it was! Seto's eyes softened for just a moment and he seemed to relax. Just as quickly his walls were back up and he tried to maintain his aloof appearance; that's all it was, an appearance.

Mokuba smiled, Seto was having girl problems. He wondered who the girl was; it couldn't be Téa, he had confessed to hating the dancer. Mokuba couldn't think of a single girl who was grouped with the gang that Seto didn't despise immensely.

They had pulled up into the mansion drive and Kaiba left the limo in an attempt to dissuade Mokuba's curiosity. However Mokuba followed and began to pester him.

"Tell me! Please, please, please, please…" Mokuba continued to plead until Kaiba spun around and yelled at him.

"Would you just leave it alone, Mokuba!" he snarled.

Mokuba was shocked, Seto never yelled at him. His eyes began to fill with tears and his expression became that of heartbreak. Kaiba's eyes widened when he realized what he had just done. He knelt in front of Mokuba and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Ah, don't cry kid." Now Kaiba was the one pleading.

Mokuba's bottom lip quivered and he began to shake, fists clenched. "I just wanted to talk to you like we used to…" Mokuba was almost in tears.

"Alright I'll tell you, just cut the waterworks." Immediately Mokuba became like a happy child in a candy store. Man his little brother could play him good.

Kaiba sighed when he saw he had no way out. "There's a new member in the geek squad," Kaiba informed Mokuba.

"REALLY!" Mokuba exclaimed excitedly. "Who are they? Are they nice and funny, and do they–" Mokuba stopped when Seto's expression returned to a scowl; whoops.

"Her name is Alice and she's just as pathetic as the rest of them. Only difference between her and the original members is that she actually has a brain…" _and a body, _Seto added mentally. Mokuba had a huge smile on his face.

"What?" Kaiba demanded, "Wipe that stupid smile off your face and get in the house."

"Yes sir!" Mokuba popped a military salute and ran into the mansion. When had his little brother's hero-worship turned into lighthearted mockery?

Mokuba had never seen that expression on Seto's face before; only when he spoke of Duel Monsters and his company did he have that glint in his eye. It had come from saying her name, Alice. It had sounded like he was angry with her; had she been like every other fangirl and fallen all over him? Or maybe she had been unaffected by him, that might explain his anger. Seto did think of himself as irresistible. Mokuba giggled. He wondered if she was pretty; she would have to be to capture Seto's interest. He wanted to meet her. Maybe Seto would invite her over. The famous Kaiba trademark smirk appeared on Mokuba's angelic face. One thing was for sure, Seto was head over heels for a member of the geek squadand he didn't even realize it_._

[_A/N: End of another chapter, beginning of another fun mystery :D_]


	7. Intimidation

[_A/N: In my opinion the fun starts in this chapter, just a fair warning ;)_ ]

***Disclaimer*** (lost the bid on e-bay for ownership of "Yu-Gi-Oh!", still in the running for bids on Seto :d jk, I so wish)

**Chapter 7 – Intimidation**

For the second night in a row Kaiba dreamt of Aeris. It was a very pleasant dream, no dueling involved at all. They just sat on the grass by the foggy lake and talked. Kaiba couldn't believe all the things he was telling her. Maybe it was because he knew this was a dream, so his secrets would be kept safe, or maybe he just wanted someone to talk to. There was one question in particular he desperately wanted to ask her, but he couldn't think of a polite way to voice it.

He knew his time was up when she kissed his cheek and walked back towards the lake. _It's now or never,_ Kaiba thought as he gathered all the strength he could manage and called out to her.

She spun to face him gracefully and replied with a simple, "Yes?"

"Do you…I mean…have you ever met someone who looked _so_ much like someone else that it had you completely at a loss of…" Kaiba realized how absurdly pathetic he sounded so he started over. "Are you or are you not Alice Porter?" he asked coolly.

Aeris cocked her head to the side and answered his question with one of her own. "What do you think, Seto?"

Kaiba shook his head, not in denial but in confusion. That was the problem. He wasn't sure what he believed. They looked so much alike that he literally thought they were the same person. But that was preposterous. If Aeris were Alice she would have greeted him on the first day. So I guess it was a no. Unless…unless Alice didn't want him to know that she was Aeris. What if it were her plan to leave him so distracted he couldn't think straight. If that were the case, what was she after? No, they aren't the same person. There are differences, however subtle they may be. Aeris was so amazingly graceful while Alice had fallen off balance and run into someone…then again that hadn't been her fault. But then there was the confidence issue; Aeris swam in it, while Alice seemed self-conscience of her every move. If he was being honest…

"No, it is impossible." Kaiba said as he crossed his arms defensively across his chest.

"If that is what you believe, that is what I am. Until you believe otherwise…I will just be Aeris. Farwell,"

"Wait," Kaiba called out, but she had already vanished and he could feel himself waking up.

_~~~DFAD~~~_

That morning was like hell for Kaiba, he couldn't focus on any one task. Her answer had left him even more confused than when he had gone to sleep. She was so infuriating. How dare she evade his question like that! What gave her the right…

"Seto!" Mokuba shrieked at him.

"What Mokuba?" Kaiba did not appreciate being yelled at in the least.

"Have you heard a single word I've been saying?" Mokuba asked feigning hurt.

It worked. Kaiba folded his newspaper, that he hadn't been paying any attention to, and looked at Mokuba. "Sorry kid, bad morning. What were you saying?" His prime concern should be Mokuba, not a couple of identical troublemakers who were or weren't after his company.

Mokuba smiled, he was thinking of the Alice girl again. It was so obvious. He could read Seto like an open book. He was going to have some fun with this. "So have you told her?"

"What do you mean 'have I told her'? I'm not following this conversation." Mokuba got up from the table, knowing he would need the head start.

"Have you told Alice that you're her new fanboy?" Mokuba began hysterically laughing as he ran from the room.

"I'm no fanboy! This has nothing to do with that Porter girl. Mokuba, get back here. You're going to be late for school!" Kaiba gave chase to his brother.

When Kaiba finally caught up with Mokuba the raven haired teen had just finished another chorus of "Seto's gotta girlfriend." Kaiba grabbed him and threw him over his shoulder. Mokuba yelled and kicked his legs, pounding playfully on the brunette's back. Kaiba threw Mokuba gently into the waiting limo and they were off to school.

Kaiba was silently fuming as Mokuba tried to suppress his giggles. He had never seen Seto so flushed before, he must have struck a nerve. When they arrived at Mokuba's school Kaiba got out as Mokuba followed. He stood in front of Kaiba and looked at the ground readying to make his apology.

"Sorry big brother, that was very immature of me," Mokuba was playing him, but Kaiba didn't realize it yet.

"I forgive you kid, just get to class." Kaiba had his arms crossed over his chest again, so Mokuba figured he could get out one more ounce of fun.

Halfway to the building he turned around and shouted, "Say hello to your girlfriend for me," and then he ran inside.

Kaiba shook his head and got back in his limo. Alice, his girlfriend? Absurd. The entire ride to Domino High Kaiba mused over Alice and the thought of her as his girlfriend. He did find her quite appealing, though the company she kept was debatable. He exited the limo and found that the school doors hadn't been opened yet.

There she sat, on the steps into the school, silently reading a book. She looked too good to be true, like something out of a dream; Kaiba chuckled, isn't that exactly what she was?

The wind blew and several strands of her hair blew in her face. She put her book down beside her and attempted to fix it. Just then another gust of wind came and blew he book down the steps. Kaiba watched her hurriedly stand and chase the book, which conveniently landed in front of him. He bent to pick it up for her.

He stood with her book in his hand and it took her a moment to realize her book was gone. Slowly she straightened and looked up at him, cheeks slightly flushed from the brisk breeze. Some of her hair was still in her face, but it didn't obstruct his view of her. He handed her the book back and she took it, holding it tightly to her chest. Had he ever wished to be a book before? He suddenly found himself wishing it now. He should say something.

"You should learn how to take better care of your things." He hadn't intended to insult her but something overtook him and he found himself teasing her.

She frowned at him indignantly, "The wind blew and I have no control over that."

He found that he enjoyed the way her mouth moved. He wanted to watch it even more. "If you hadn't of been so vain in your attempt to fix your hair," he said as he pushed said hair out of her face causing another slight blush, "Your book wouldn't have wound up on the ground." He liked that she blushed at his touch, it was encouraging.

Her lower lip jutted out in a very attractive pout. "I couldn't see the page with my hair in the way. I'm hardly as vain as you, you fix your hair in class all the time."

"So you've been watching me during class? That's hardly good for your grades." Kaiba scolded mockingly. He didn't mind that she watched him, he watched her quite a bit too.

Her dull pink cheeks became a more noticeable red, but her eyes hardened at the implication. "I…I have not been watching you. You just…are always in front of me when you do it and I happened to notice." Her excuse sounded very weak and pathetic, he liked it.

"It's okay, I do have _many_ fangirls. I would be happy to add you to the list," he smirked down at her.

"A fangirl, hardly Kaiba. Only shallow and unintelligent girls would fall for you. Your so called 'list' is something you couldn't pay me to be on." She had quite a temper for something so dainty and pretty.

"Are you sure? I do have a substantial amount of money. I would even consider putting you at the top." He was enjoying this far more than he probably should. He wanted to make her blush again so he leaned down until his face was only inches from hers. His breathing spiked, _this was supposed to be affecting her, not me. _"I could make room for you in several _other_ areas," he purred seductively in her ear. She shivered and he felt thrilled that he had gotten a real response out of her. Her eyes widened as he stared into her liquid emerald eyes. He licked his lips and her eyes darted to them. He could have sworn she began to lean up towards him, but too soon they were interrupted.

"Seto!" Mikaila called as she skidded to a halt next to the two. Alice quickly looked away, no longer transfixed by his piercing blue eyes. Kaiba straightened up and glared down at the shrew that had interrupted his fun. Mikaila looked between Alice's crimson red face and Kaiba's hard stare and said, "I wanted to talk to you about our date. Oh, I hope I didn't interrupt anything." Though honestly that was the exact opposite of her hopes.

"Of course not," Alice quickly denied. _How quickly she dismisses our attraction, _Kaiba mused. "I was just leaving in fact. Good day Mikaila…K..Kaiba." She seemed to stumble over his name…and the stairs as well, and then the door. Had he really affected her that much? Or was she simply in appalled shock?

"Pathetic excuse for a girl," Mikaila hissed after her. "So Seto I was thinking–"

"No," Kaiba answered curtly as he walked after Alice, leaving a very offended Mikaila behind. He called out to her but she just walked faster. He chuckled under his breath; she was a very amusing pet.

For Kaiba the lessons he had to endure had suddenly become a hard-pressed chore. He had to struggle to pay attention, as if he were some stupid child. The classes seemed longer and more mountainous with each passing second. Even the breaks they were allotted did nothing for his nerves. Was it his nerves that were the problem? He couldn't tell. Every inch of his body felt strangely alive and vibrant. Whenever Alice would even glance in his direction it was as if his system was being shocked. He wanted to escape…but then again he enjoyed it, feeling shocked. When the lunch break finally arrived he wanted to flee from her presence, but he allowed himself one last look at her before he left.

Again she had a confused expression on her face as she stared at him. He had gathered his things and turned to head for the door, but looked back at her. She seemed on the verge of following him; would he allow that? A moment ago he had wanted to escape, now he wasn't sure at all. She bit her lower lip and turned her head away from him. That decided it for Kaiba and he left the room abruptly. Did she notice how her gaze affected him? Did she see that he wanted her to follow? He needed to get away from her quickly before he did anything rash.

"Alice?" Joey said for the third time. She was staring at the doorway, not appearing to hear anything they said. Joey looked at Yugi for help, but his friend only shrugged. Duke got up and walked over to her desk.

"Porter!" He shouted as he snapped his fingers in front of her face. She blinked several times and turned her head very jerkily toward Duke. Her green eyes seemed to want to stay fixed on the door, but slowly they too were facing Duke.

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" She asked sincerely. Had she really not heard her name being called all those times? Even Duke had barely fazed her.

"We're going outside to eat, would you care to join us?" Tristan asked before Duke could. Alice looked around her, all her new friends were gathered around her desk, and she hadn't noticed; how rude of her.

She blushed in apology and replied, "Of course."

Alice took her book with her and she quickly grabbed an apple from the cafeteria. They made their way outside and sat at their table. They all began eating at a ravenous rate, except Alice who nibbled on her apple as she flipped to random pages in her book. Discussions of their plans for tonight were being thrown around and Téa offered to pick Alice up for the movie. Alice declined saying she had errands to run first, but thanked her for the thought. She appeared so distracted, hardly eating, not really reading either; she kept glancing around as if looking for something.

"Are you okay, Alice?" Joey asked with concern. He had taken up the responsibility of protecting Alice from her new "fans". While the other boys literally drooled over her, he had taken a more maternal liking to her, brotherly.

She shook her head and said, "I'm fine. I finished this book and I'm just dying to read the next one. I was going to run to the book store after school but I doubt I'll have time."

"You know Alice, this school does have a library." Bakura said helpfully.

"Really? I haven't been around any other parts of the school except our classroom. Where is it?"

"You know, I could take you there babe. It would be my _pleasure_." Duke offered as he leaned towards her. She quickly jumped up causing Duke to fall on his face. Everyone suppressed a laugh as Duke righted himself.

"That's alright. I think I can find it if you give me directions." Alice said as she brushed a piece of grass off Duke's shoulder. Bakura gave her directions and she walked out of sight to find the library.

_~~~DFAD~~~_

"This is hopeless." Kaiba moaned as he sunk into one the armchairs in the library. Avoiding Alice was completely illogical. She hadn't done anything, well consciously, to him. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the chair. Why couldn't he think straight? Was it really that something was wrong with her, or was he the problem? Nothing seemed to make sense anymore; everything was hopelessly tangled. He breathed in deeply and sighed, he didn't know what to do.

He sat like this, eyes closed and head back, for a while until he sensed someone watching him. It was the scent that gave her away, because she had a very unique smell; vanilla and strawberries. He wanted to moan, did she have to smell so edible? It was subtle, hardly detectable, but when he had his eyes closed his other senses were enhanced. He had only smelled it once before, this morning when he had leaned over her.

He smirked, and slowly opened his eyes while saying, "You know it's impolite to stare." His suspicions were confirmed when his eyes locked on Alice standing a few feet away transfixed in her spot. He sat up and looked her up and down. She hadn't moved when he spoke. Was she hoping he hadn't noticed her? He chuckled at the perplexed expression on her face, "Penny for your thoughts, Porter?"

That seemed to have snapped her out of it. She smiled and came to stand in front of him. She shook her head slightly as if trying to dislodge a thought. "I was just wondering if I should draw on your face or pour ice water over you," she grinned down at him, obviously liking the fact that she was above him. "I had just decided on the water when you opened your eyes."

Kaiba stood up and looked into her eyes. She was lying, her voice always sounded a bit higher when she lied. Also she was finding it difficult to look in his eyes, apparently feeling guilty for it. "Liar, what were you really thinking," he probed.

She shook her head and started to walk away from him, he wouldn't have that. He followed her to a bookshelf were she stopped and began to look at the numerous books. "Honestly Kaiba, I wasn't thinking anything." She still refused to face him. Scanning shelf after shelf she made her way through the library with Kaiba following after her, determined to get an answer.

Eventually she turned to face him and asked icily, "Why are you following me, Kaiba?"

He smiled down at her and replied, "I'll leave _if_ you tell me why you were watching me." It was a lie, he knew he wouldn't leave _when_ she told him; when not if.

"What exactly makes you think I'll agree to those terms?" she asked, clasping her hands behind her back.

Kaiba crossed his arms, "Because I said you will." It was that simple for Kaiba, everyone always did what he said, never any exceptions. Well, until now.

Her eyes hardened and she scowled at him, "Well that's just not good enough for me."

_Not good enough for her, what did she want?_ Kaiba thought in utter confusion. He knew what he wanted, for now at least, an answer to his question. If demanding didn't work perhaps persuasion would.

"Please," Kaiba said in an immensely attractive voice. It had the effect he had wanted. Her eyes widened ever so slightly and the expression on her face was no longer hostile. He wanted to laugh at his strange victory, but he didn't for fear it would send her in the wrong direction.

"Please, won't you tell me what you were thinking," he continued to plead. Again her expression softened slightly and her eyes warmed; it seemed she hated to deny people of things they wanted. She still wasn't opening her mouth to tell him though, so he kicked it up and notch.

He began to approach her slowly, giving her time to process what he was doing and react. She timidly stepped backward until her back was pressed against the bookshelf. Kaiba smirked, _now she's trapped._ He pleaded with her once more, but she turned her head away from him.

Taking her chin gently in his hand he turned her face back towards him, tilting it up slightly so he could see into her once more liquid green eyes. They swam with such beauty and warmth that he felt elated just looking into them. Her lips were trembling ever so slightly, but her eyes were locked straight on him. He had one more small trick up his sleeve.

"Tell me, Alice please." It had worked exactly as he had intended on her, but the effect on him was surprising. She smiled at him in a very appealing way; his stomach was suddenly in knots. He had enjoyed saying her name far more than what was conventional. Now he was dangerously close to her, combined with her smile and the smell of her shampoo and soap he was nearly overwhelmed.

Shyly she opened her mouth and said, "I was just thinking about how tired you looked. You must not get enough sleep, what with worrying about your corporation and younger brother, not to mention all your school work. I do hope you are taking care of yourself," she added with a smirk of her own.

Astonishing, she had been staring at him and instead of remarking on his outward appearance she was concerned for his health. He had never wanted someone as badly as he wanted Alice in this moment. Why couldn't she have said she thought he looked stunning, good at the least? He suddenly found himself wishing she was like every other fangirl, though he knew he didn't want that.

He put his hands on the bookshelf to either side of her face and he was pleased to see her eyes widen. Her breathing sped up, but her warm eyes turned… terrified? How was that fair? He had been nothing but kind to her so far and she was scared of him. He didn't want her to be afraid of him, he wanted her to feel safe and comfortable around him, _since we'll be spending so much time together._

"You don't have to be afraid," Kaiba said quietly. Her chin came up a fraction of an inch, but her eyes softened a bit too.

"I'm not afraid of you Kaiba… but you are a bit intimidating." She giggled. He liked that, she wasn't afraid of him, but she did seem affected to a certain degree. How much fun he would have with this. He smirked.

"I intimidate you?" he asked as he began to lean against her soft body. She stayed perfectly still as he pressed himself into her fully, pushing her back tighter against the bookshelf. Her breathing sped again and he smiled.

"Kaiba don't," she warned, her voice was barely more than a whisper.

"Call me Seto," he said as he moved his left hand to her shoulder and began a slow trail down to her wrist. She shook her head very slowly, exaggerating the movement as if indecisive. "Why should I stop?" He inquired of her.

"Because…because I don't want this," she replied weakly.

He chuckled, "Don't you?" Her body shivered. He moved his other hand to her cheek and stared into her eyes. Dark humor was written all over his face as he said, "I'm not a very good person. I don't respect people's boundaries, especially pretty girls." He moved his head in closer to hers, inhaling her glorious scent.

"You think too little of yourself, Kaiba. I know you won't do anything." She seemed to be more firm in her response now.

"Oh wouldn't I?" He asked her. He was insulted that she didn't think him capable of going through with this, but he was also thrilled that she thought so highly of him. She had a smirk on her face as she picked up her hand and placed it over his on her face. She played with his fingers before bringing his hand in front of her, caressing it. What pleasure this simple touch caused him.

"I don't think you would do anything to me I didn't want," she said as she moved her hand to his chest and looked up at him seductively. Kaiba was shocked, he hadn't expected this, nor thought her capable. He took an unsteady step backward, and then a few more until his back was pressed against the opposite bookshelf. Suddenly she was being the aggressive one. She had descended on him like a demon out of hell, but with all the grace and poise of an angel.

The green eyed goddess approached and pressed her curves into him as she slowly began to move her left hand up his arm. When it was at his shoulder she continued until it was at the nape of his neck, sending shivers down his spine. His eyes were wide with shock. She pulled his face down to her height, so it was only inches from her own as she laughed, "What's the matter Kaiba, intimidated?"

Slowly realization hit him. She wasn't trying to seduce him, merely giving him a taste of his own medicine. He smirked down at her. She was quite good; but he was better. So it was going to be that kind of game.

He brought his right hand up and abruptly placed it on the small of her back, jerking her closer to him. A small, but noticeable whimper escaped her lips. Their faces were nearly touching now. "Not in the slightest," he growled.

Still maintaining her composure, Alice slid her hand into his rich auburn hair and was rewarded by a small groan from Kaiba. Her stomached fluttered at the sound, it was so…kinky.

Kaiba's eyes widened, but he was determined not to back out first. He took the hand on the small of her back and slid it down to her rear and squeezed. Her eyes widened and her mouth hung open indignantly. But she wasn't about to lose either.

Their eyes locked as she leaned up closer, their mouths almost touching. Neither wanting to flinch first, neither truly sure if they wanted this kiss. A cough issued from somewhere beside them. They both dropped their hands quickly and turned their heads to see who the sound had come from.

Mrs. Manson, the school librarian, was standing with her arms crossed a few feet away from them. By the look on her face she had obviously seen what they were doing, or what they had appeared to be doing.

"We weren't," Alice began in a very small voice, but Mrs. Manson interrupted her.

"I don't want or need your excuses Miss Porter; I am very disappointed in you." Alice's head dropped slightly. "If I catch you two doing that in my library again you _will_ be banned. You're very lucky I don't report you two. I think you ought to leave," she added sternly as she turned and walked back to her reception desk.

Mrs. Manson never thought she would see such an unlikely couple; she had heard such wonderful things about Miss Porter. She sighed as she sat at her desk. It looked as if Mister Kaiba were attempting to drag her under. Though he was incredibly intelligent she was sure Porter's grades would suffer if she dated the boy. She disguised a giggle as a cough. The girl had held her own against Kaiba's intimidation though. Maybe that was how it had started; a battle of wits. She wondered who the winner had been as she began going through the stack of returned books.

"Why didn't you say something? Try to explain what we had been doing," Alice questioned Kaiba in a hiss.

"I didn't think anything needed to be said," then he added with a smirk, "What exactly were we doing?"

She blushed, "I was simply trying to prove that you weren't as pigheaded as you and everyone else things. Maybe I was wrong," she challenged.

"Maybe you were wrong," Kaiba sighed as he moved her bangs out of her face. She hit his hand away, causing him to chuckle.

"You're awfully feisty for such a dainty little thing."

"I am not dainty," she objected.

"I disagree. Oh and are you ever planning of getting off of me, not that I mind." He looked down pointedly at where her body was still pressed flush up against his.

"What?" She said confused as she looked down as well.

_This is amusing,_ Kaiba thought, _she didn't even seem to realize she was still leaning on me._

"I'm so sorry," she mumbled as she backed away and nearly fell over. Kaiba caught her arm and righted her, leaving his hand on her elbow.

"Watch where you're going Porter, you wouldn't want to fall into anyone again." Kaiba smiled down at her.

She shook his hand off her and spat, "I don't need your help, Kaiba." She spun on her heels and began to walk away. He should probably let her go; his head was too disoriented to function properly, but just a bit of fun first.

He called after her, "You know, I like the way you walk, Porter." She turned around and stuck her tongue out at him. He playfully licked his lips and she turned a very delicate shade of red as she hurried from the library. He realized lunch had ended five minutes ago as he hurried after her.

He caught up to her a little ways away from class. She could walk fairly fast for someone with such small legs, well small compared to his. With a smirk on his face he reached over and took her hand. She attempted to pull away, but he didn't allow it. She sighed as they approached the door. They walked into the classroom one after the other – Alice had managed to pull her hand away before they entered. They had interrupted Mr. Hayashi's lesson.

_I knew it,_Mikaila thought as they entered the classroom together. _That Porter bitch is trying to take my Seto away from me. Well I just won't allow that._ Mikaila was glaring murderously at Alice as the brunette crossed the room to her seat.

"Miss Porter and Mister Kaiba, where have you two been?" Implications were heavy in his small question.

"Porter got lost in the library and Mrs. Manson asked me to locate her," Kaiba replied smoothly as he took his seat.

Alice stared at him with an open mouth, apparently offended by the excuse. Kaiba wanted to laugh at her expression, but when lying it is best to maintain an image.

"Very well. Miss Porter, next time you decide to venture into the library perhaps you should take a guide." There was scattered laughter throughout the class.

"Yes sir," she muttered as she took out her spiral, eyes never leaving her desk.

_Why would someone like Seto want to be associated with someone like that horrid Porter girl. Sure the other boys think she's pretty, but Seto should know better than to fall for her simple look._Mikaila growled under her breath. She would have to do something to ensure that Porter was never near her Seto again.

[_A/N: Wow, I didn't notice how long this was until now. Tell me if you liked it or not by reviewing :)_ ]


	8. Perspective

[_A/N: Finally you get to see what goes on in Alice's head, hehehe :}_ ]

***Disclaimer*** (I don't own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" or Seto, sad but true.)

**Chapter 8 – Perspective**

_Arrogant and self-absorbed jerk, _Alice thought as she tried to drown herself in the endless flow of numbers contained in her notes. Kaiba had just embarrassed her in front of the entire class by claiming she got lost in the library and needed _his_ help. He made her sound so pathetic and helpless, a regular damsel in distress. She turned her head and openly glared at him. How any one person could be so obnoxious was beyond her. She always tried to be nice to everyone, but Kaiba was pushing her to the limit.

She had found other people who had been unpleasant at best, but Seto Kaiba put a new spin on things. He was downright bitter and he always seemed to be angry about something. Of course that was a product of hard living; she knew that from personal experience. She was a little impressed he was still able to function properly. Still, she was sure he walked around with that horrid scowl on his face for days on end. His arrogant trademark smirk wasn't much better…she sighed. Who was she kidding? She loved that stupid smirk on his face.

With all his flaws he was still an amazing person. He was a world-class duelist, the CEO and president of Kaiba Corp, he was a globally excepted genius, he took care of his younger brother, and he still attended school. Alice couldn't help but find him fascinating, _but that was all, it is not because of his looks…hmmm. _She had been thinking of the library incident and had nearly made the sound out loud.

_Sure he's attractive, I can admit that, but I will not fall prey to his devilish personality._ Alice sighed again. How was she any better from his fangirls? The answer was that she wasn't, she found him appealing in every way. Often she practically drooled over him whenever he looked at her, or was close to her, or even just in her thoughts.

She knew he could be companionate, she had seen as much in his dreams. It was wrong of her to continue the contact after the warning had been delivered, but she had found Seto's mind so phenomenal. He had been she kind and sweet in his dreams. To meet him in person and see the contrast was staggering. She tried her best to hate his change into this cold and seductive tyrant, but she found she actually liked his egotistical babble. It was part of who he was; you couldn't have the good without the bad.

Seto looked over at her and she attempted to glare at him, but when he winked at her she had to turn away for fear of revealing her interest. He was too good for her, she should not think on these things. She played with a strand of her hair until it was free time once again. They got three of them every day; this confounded her to no ends. What was the point in being in school if you weren't going to learn anything? Before Kaiba could initiate a conversation with her, that she was sure would infuriate and frustrate her, she turned to Téa.

"So what movie are we going to see?" Not that she cared but she needed a distraction; she had never really found the concept of movies appealing.

"It's the new Jean Claude Magnum movie. He specializes in ninja films though I don't actually think he's ever done anything else. Joey is like his biggest fan, but I don't understand why after what happened during Battle City." Téa rolled her eyes at the memory.

"Sounds interesting," Alice's lie fell flat and Téa giggled.

"I know, I don't really like ninja movies either. I'm sure we'll have an amazing time though," the dancer promised as Joey jumped in and tried to fill Alice in on seven movies-worth of information.

Then Duke interrupted, "Hey Alice, how about I pick you up for the movie?" Alice didn't think this was a good idea since Duke had a thing for her, but she was all for not walking too much. On the plus side maybe it would irritate Kaiba if she said yes to Duke and not to him… not that she cared if it bothered him.

"Alright Duke, can you pick me up by Domino park?" She didn't want them to see her lavish house and have second thoughts about being friends with her.

"Sure thing babe." Duke was ecstatic she had said yes, but he was curious as to why the park. Maybe she had some hanky-panky in mind.

_Why did that idiotic woman have to interrupt us in the library, _Kaiba thought acidicly as he pressed down too hard on his pencil causing it to break. How often did his temper cause damage? He suppressed a sigh as he thought of how he had almost ruined his moment with Alice. _She certainly did hold her own, not at all a pushover. But why did she say yes to Devlin's invitation?_ Kaiba refused to admit he was jealous. _I bet if I had had a few more minutes with the girl I would have gotten her to say yes to me._

He wanted her to look at him again, but for the rest of the day she never did. Her head did turn his way twice, but it seemed that she caught herself before looking his way. It irritated him beyond belief that after what had happened she could remain so aloof. When the bell rang signifying the end of class, he decided he should stay after a few moments to avoid temptation; and by temptation he meant Alice.

Alice grabbed her bag and headed for the door, to her disappointment Kaiba did not follow. She made it to the front of the school with great difficulty; she wanted badly to go back to class for him. She pulled the sleeves of her pink sweater down further on her wrists. It was quite chilly outside already, it would be frigid later on.

Téa wished her luck in her book search, and the gang all agreed to meet outside the theater at nine. She watched as they all walked home, or in Téa and Duke's case drove. She didn't like leaving before everyone else because she didn't like the feeling of leaving anyone behind. If she was being honest she also didn't want them to know she walked quite a ways to get to school. She owned a car, and several other vehicles, but she refused to drive them. However with it getting colder she would have to suck it up and hope that nobody asked too many questions.

"Porter!" A shrill and demanding voice called from behind her. She had gone back into the school building to retrieve her things from her locker. Mikaila was approaching her at a ravenous rate. The expression on her face was cold and calculating.

"Yes?" Alice asked politely. Before Alice could fathom what Mikaila might want she was shoved into the lockers. She gasped in surprise, her first instinct was to shove back but she restrained herself.

"We need to talk," Mikaila informed her smoothly.

This confused Alice. Since when did talking include physical contact? "Is this really necessary?" She asked as she gestured to Mikaila's hands pressed against her shoulders.

The black and blue haired girl sneered at her, "I had to make sure I get my message through to you." She paused and seemed to organeze her thoughts.

"Go on," she prompted, growing impatient. She had a lock pressed against the base of her spine and while it was not painful yet it was a bit uncomfortable.

"Stay. Away. From. Seto." Mikaila said, exaggerated each word with a menacing silence.

Alice snorted, "Is that all?" She found the whole situation amusing now. Mikaila was telling _her_ to stay away from Kaiba? Maybe she should have this talk with him too.

Mikaila narrowed her pale blue eyes, "Don't play me. I see how you look at him." Green eyes widened. "If you know what's good for you Porter, you'll leave Seto alone."

Alice's temper was flared. "If you're so concerned about Kaiba, maybe you should discuss this with him and leave me out of it. I hardly know him." Her last statement rang falsely and Mikaila tightened her hold. _Why do I have to be such a grotesque liar?_

"Just do what I say, Porter. Seto is too good for you anyway," Mikaila informed her.

Alice gave a false laugh, "You think Seto Kaiba is too good for me?" Now she was actually laughing. Hadn't she thought the same thing a few hours ago? How ironic. "If you think he's too good for me, he must be light-years out of your league."

Mikaila abruptly slapped Alice across the face. It stung a little, but not enough to force a response. "Dumb bitch, watch your mouth." Mikaila spat at her.

_Watch my mouth? Do you even hear the profanity coming out of yours? _Alice thought angrily. She glared at the black and blue haired girl in front of her and wanted badly to respond to all her violence. She took a deep, cleansing breath. _I wouldn't want a murder investigation,_ she held back a smile.

_Look at Porter now, she's scared stiff! I think I got my message across splendidly,_Mikaila thought smugly. But just to make sure she asked, "Am I clear?"

_What, your personality or your brain? Well I suppose the answer to both would be, _"Crystal."

Satisfied with her answer Mikaila turned and made her way out of the building. Alice threw mental daggers at her retreating figure. When she was out of sight the brunette returned to gathering her books.

_Let's see; I'll need Physics, Trig, English, Seto…DANM IT! Can't even think straight._ Alice sighed as she knelt to pick up the Russian book she had dropped._ I'll need this too, hmm…think I might need my Japanese book as well,_ she thought as she grabbed her books and tried to fit them into her already bulging bag. Her locker slammed closed and she stared up in disbelief at a furious looking Seto Kaiba.

"What was that?" He asked shortly.

"I don't understand what you're talking about, Kaiba. What was what? Did I miss something?" She asked in a desperate attempt to play dumb. The green eyed girl had a vague idea what this was about; Kaiba had obviously overheard, and was angry about, her conversation with Mikaila.

"Ugh, how could you let her do that?" His tone was that of outrage.

Now Alice was really confused, no longer understanding his thinking in the slightest. "Do what, Kaiba?" She couldn't think of one thing Mikaila had done that would have offended him.

_That harpy will pay dearly for striking an angel, especially mine._ Kaiba was almost completely consumed with rage. Not only had Mikaila pushed Alice but she had also threatened and slapped her.

"Hit you, push you, tell you what to do! Take your pick." Kaiba yelled at her. He wasn't mad at her, he was mad at the blue haired vixen, but Alice flinched none the less.

"I didn't exactly invite her to do that! And since when is any of this your concern?" Alice demanded. Kaiba was silent, he didn't know why it bothered him, and she took it as a confirmation to her suspensions. "Oh I see, your ego was wounded because I lowered the standard on what you thought you deserve in a woman."

"That's not it at all." Kaiba replied hotly.

"Well then what is it, Kaiba?" She asked as she threw her hands in the air.

Kaiba decided to change the subject to something else he was interested in, "Why did you say yes when Duke offered you a ride?" Alice nearly laughed, if she didn't know better it almost seemed that Kaiba was being protective, maybe even jealous.

"I would _love _to stay and discuss my conversation history with you, but I'm afraid that I have places to be. So if you'll excuse me," she said as she walked past him and out the door.

Seto stared after her in amusement. Had anyone ever walked away from him before? He chuckled as he went out to get in his limo. He didn't see Alice anywhere so he assumed she had gone home, how disappointing. Kaiba instructed the driver to take him to Kaiba Corp. since he still had work to do before the weekend. This was going to be a long day.

Alice stepped out from behind the tree. She had narrowly avoided Kaiba as he left the school. To her pleasure he had actually stopped and looked around for her. _Pleasure? Geez, this was getting very complicated._

Alice began to walk to the nearest book store. After searching for a while she found several new books and paid for them. She had also intended to buy a new winter jacket, but thanks to Mikaila and Kaiba she had only an hour to get home and then to the park. She made it home in forty minutes, giving her ten minutes to change and drop off her new books and ten minutes to get to the park.

In her room she quickly pulled off the horridly grotesque uniform. She hated the stupid blue bow on the front the most; it made her feel like a present. Sure she wore a red ribbon in her hair, but that was to hold half her hair up, not as a decoration. She put on a long sleeve, slightly formfitting, black shirt and a dull pink skirt. The skirt stopped only just above her knees, so feeling her outfit was a bit bland she pulled on her black knee length boots. She brushed through her hair quickly and ran out the door. It always amused her that some women found it hard to run it heels, for her it was second nature.

To her relief she made it to the park before Duke and only had to wait a few minutes before he pulled up in a very expensive looking car. Having no idea what kind of car it was, but sure he was attempting to show off, she simply got in; not even waiting for Duke to get the door for her.

As she buckled her seatbelt she noticed he was looking at her in expectation of something so she offered, "Nice car?" almost as if it was a question.

Duke chuckled, "Only the best for you babe." He then draped his arm over the back of her seat and they were off.

This was part of the reason Alice thought about rejecting his offer; she didn't particularly like the attention. She silently prayed that Duke was a fast driver.

Several times during the car ride he attempted to hold her hand or play with her hair. Each time she would shift away from him and try to distract him with a different conversation. When they made it to the theater she nearly fell out of the car because she was leaning so heavily against the door. They got out and found their group waiting in line for tickets. Duke offered to pay for hers but she rejected. She didn't like taking things from people, she liked to give better. She noticed there was another member to their group.

"Alice dis is Mai Valentine, Mai dis is Alice Porter." Joey said introducing Alice to the new blonde. She was tall with a beautiful figure and she had a pair of very pretty purple eyes. And she was familiar.

They shook hands and Alice added, "I've heard of you, you're a duelist too right? You made it to the semi-finals of Duelist Kingdom, and you participated in Battle City. You're one of my favorite duelists."

Mai smiled at the small brunette girl and turned to Joey, "I thought you said she wasn't duelist?" Joey looked dumfounded. He hadn't expected Alice to know so much about Mai. Sure Alice had know about him, Yugi, Kaiba… come to think of it she knew a fair amount about dueling.

Alice bit her lip and then giggled, "Just because I'm not a duelist doesn't mean I don't watch the Dueling Network. I enjoy watching, but not playing." It was a reasonable enough explanation on how she knew about all the tournaments and the results.

"So you like watching Duel Monsters?" Duke questioned. "How about you and I–" but he was cut off by Tristan saying, "The movies about to start, come on!" So Alice was able to skillfully maneuver herself away from Duke.

_She'll get used to me buying things for her and my flirtation eventually,_Duke thought in order to soothe himself. _She just needs time to get used to my devilishly good looks and charm._They got their tickets and snacks as they entered the theater. There was a brief argument over who would sit by Alice, but it was resolved when she sat in-between Téa and Mai. The theater went dark and the opening credits began. For the next two hours, they would sit there.

[_A/N: Was any of this really surprising? Or did you see it coming? Review please :)_ ]


	9. Coffee

[_A/N: I couldn't think of what to call this chapter, so I suppose this will do._]

***Disclaimer*** (I don't own "Yu-Gi-Oh!". Any bets on how often I'm going to say that?)

**Chapter 9 – Coffee**

The movie had a lot of explosions and fighting scenes and the boys would chat excitedly whenever they happened. Alice thought the movie was of very poor quality, the editing was so choppy and unprofessional. The special effects seemed too fake and the acting was hardly mediocre. Somehow the others were able to ignore this and enjoy the movie though. Alice attempted several times but she would always end up staring at one spot on the screen.

_When will this horrid movie end?_ Alice wondered as she took a hand full of popcorn. She had to admit that despite the bad movie she was enjoying the food, and her friend's reactions. They were funnier than the movie; whenever an action sequence would happen Joey and Tristan would grin like two kids on Christmas morning while Duke and Yugi seemed to like the car chase portions. She suppressed a giggle, _why there are car chases in ninja movies I suppose I'll never know. _

Her favorite part however was not in the movie; it had been a very intense scene, not quite romantic but as close as you could get. Joey reached over discretely and put his arm around Mai in the darkened theater. The purple eyed woman sighed and leaned her head into his shoulder, causing Joey to blush. Alice disguised her giggle as a cough as she noticed that simultaneously, Yugi had done something similar. He had simply reached over and taken Téa's hand in his own, but this too was loaded with emotion. She couldn't help but be happy for her friends; however at the same time she worried for what they were doing.

To her dismay a full blown romance scene followed these events. She began to panic. _No one mentioned this!_ Why she was freaking out she didn't fully understand herself. But she found it difficult to watch; the man proclaiming his love for the girl before he went into battle. She wanted to yell at the girl to run and not look back. Love was a poison, an all consuming and deadly poison that eats away at you until there's nothing left. It dulls your senses and causes you a great weakness. She remembered the day she had adopted this philosophy… the day her parents died.

She was snapped out of her reverie when Mai said, "Hun, you're staring at the credits."

Alice grinned impishly and grabbed her popcorn. They made their way out of the theater; Joey and Tristan were animatedly talking about how awesome the sequel was going to be. _How they could make eight movies of this and still consider continuing is just ludicrous._

They stopped outside the theater to talk in the night time air. The street lamps gave off an artificial glow of light, obscuring the stars from view. The wind had picked up and it was noticeably colder. But the group stayed huddled together and discussed their favorite parts.

"The car chase was definitely the best part," Duke argued.

"No way, da ninja verses da bomb was way cooler," Joey argued back

"I like how it was resolved without too much violence," Bakura added. Joey, Tristan, and Duke gave him questioning looks and then continued.

"I think the romance scene was the best," Téa gushed. Mai nodded in agreement and then turned to Alice.

"What was your favorite part hun?" Everyone was looking at Alice, she didn't want to disappoint them, but she honestly hadn't absorbed any of that movie.

"Well, the explosions were really… umm, cool. And then the n..ninja fights were…awesome?" She finished unsure. Everyone let out playful laughs and shook their heads at Alice's ignorance. But Yugi had an understanding smile on his face. Normally she would have been offended by the group's reaction, but because just one person understood she was able to laugh with them.

"Well if you didn't like dis movie Alice, you gotta pick da next one." Joey said as he smiled down at Alice.

"Oh no, I couldn't!" She protested. Alice _really_ didn't want to have to pick the movie. It was one thing to attend, another to watch, but a whole different game to pick.

"But you didn't like this one," Tristan argued, "You just have to pick–"

"Hey, why don't we go and get some ice cream?" Yugi offered, interrupting Tristan. Alice looked at Yugi a tad surprised only to see that same understanding smile on his face.

"Mhmm, that sounds good." Téa exclaimed happily.

"Who else is up for it?" Tristan asked looking pointedly at Alice. She waited for everyone else to respond first. Joey and Mai agreed, Bakura needed to get home, Yugi and Téa were in of course, and both Tristan and Duke wanted to go. Alice however, felt like being alone.

"I should probably get home. I still have to do my homework," Alice explained lamely.

"Oh. Well I'll give you a ride then." Duke offered enthusiastically. Alice grimaced and shook her head. She had had enough of Duke for one day.

"That's okay, I could use the exercise," she said grinning at the group. "Besides, you should all go have some ice cream."

After a bit more persuasion Alice was able to slip away from the group and start heading home. She only lived a few miles away… she began to pout. She didn't mind walking, but she had unceremoniously worn heals. Estimating her average speed she wouldn't make it home for another two hours! It would have been faster to just go and get ice cream, but at least she got to enjoy the night air.

It was getting colder by the minute, and the wind that accompanied wasn't soothing. She tried to ignore it by listening to the sound of the crickets singing and the rustling of the leaves. How odd that it was so peaceful in the middle of a big city. The crunch of her boots mixed in with these sounds created an odd rhythm. She found herself humming softly to her own beat. She passed a clock that read 11:11, she giggled and thought sarcastically, _make a wish._

Despite the joking tone of her thoughts, she found that she was indeed trying to find something to wish for. What did she want? Not money, no she had plenty of that. She didn't think of herself as beautiful, but she was content enough to not wish on something that petty. Good grades were a given for her, so that was out. What could possibly make her happy? She couldn't think of one thing, well… she did enjoy making other people happy, bringing a little sunshine into a person's day. It seemed that was the best it was going to get, so she closed her eyes to wish.

_I wish I could help make someone happy. _As soon as she finished the thought an odd feeling gripped her left boot. It seemed that the heel was sunk in the soft filling in between the concrete slabs. She began to fall forward only to catch herself on the nearby light pole. A dull crack sounded and she felt her boot come loose.

Alice stared down in surprise. The heel from her boot was still stuck in the crack, but it had detached from the rest of the shoe. Alice sighed and shook her head, _of all the rotten luck._ She then giggled, _maybe I should have wished for new boots._

The upside to this situation was she might actually make it home faster. The downside was by the time she got there she would probably have glass in her foot. Sighing she sat down on a bench and began to take off her now ruined boots. She had to admit it felt good to get them off though. Stretching her legs out in front of her she wiggled each of her toes. Her socks were long and plain black, tightly fitted to her calves.

She leaned her head back against the bench with another sigh, not really sure what she was doing. It was still a nice night, and despite her ruined boots she was enjoying the walk. Suddenly she felt a drop of water hit her forehead. Blinking her eyes open in shock she stared up at the sky. She hadn't realized how many clouds there were, all of which looked ready to open up and drench her.

Groaning she shook her bangs out her face as she muttered, "This is ridiculous." And low and behold it started to rain. The rain was warm at first, soothing her body. She just sat there for a moment letting it pelt her, however she could feel the rain cooling to match the air temperature. With deep regret she got up off the park bench and grabbed her boots.

She walked on with her boots in hand and her face turned up to the sky, letting it wash over her face. _It feels so nice,_ she told herself. _It isn't that freezing. I'll be home in no time._ She didn't understand how tired she was until she fell and didn't want to get back up. She lay face down on the concrete as the rain soaked her.

Perhaps it was from all the restless nights of sleep and talking with Yugi and Kaiba in theirs, but she was almost too tired to move. Almost. Reluctantly she pulled herself to her knees, from there to her feet. She left her boots on the ground and turned her head skyward again.

"What did I do to deserve this? I've always tried to be a good person, even when I failed I didn't mean to." She seemed to be pleading with the clouds themselves. "Is this my punishment!?" She was growing louder with each phrase. "Is this what I get for getting intertwined with Shadows? Answer me!" She yelled exasperation. "Answer me," she mumbled. Alice hung her head and let the cold weight of the rain pound against her back.

She supposed she could always go back to the bench and sleep there… she shivered. No, it was much too cold for that. She was close to not caring, to giving up and curling into a ball when she heard the sound of a car approaching.

_Maybe they could give me a ride,_ she thought in desperation. Alice tilted her head up slightly but lowered it back down. _No, no one would want to give me a ride in my current state. For all they know I could be dangerous._ She heard a soft sound followed by another but was too tired to even pick up her head again.

"Alice?" Came a voice from behind her. Not just any voice. She stiffened. She would know that voice anywhere. She shouldn't, but she did. The concern in it surprised her, giving her the energy she needed to turn and face the voice.

His clothes were slightly wet, he must have just stepped out of his vehicle. He was towering over her, but not in an intimidating way… it was oddly comforting. His hair was dripping now, the gorgeous golden brown color beginning to look darker by the minute. His eyes were still the piercing, brilliant blue she knew, but there was worry in them which she had never seen. Before her very eyes that worry turned to humor, and she readied herself for the onslaught.

"I'm not in the mood at the moment, Kaiba. So whatever you have to say can it wait until Monday?" Her voice cracked slightly. She broke away from his gaze and stared at the ground in between them, hating the feeling of being inferior. She missed the tender smile that spread across his face, but caught the chuckle that followed.

"Are you planning to spend the night here until then?" Alice just sighed in response, hoping he was almost finished and would be on his way.

Kaiba looked down at Alice. She was totally drenched from head to toe. Her hair clung to her body, looking black against her pearly skin. It no longer fell in ringlets but was straightened from the downpour. The rain had enhanced her scent, causing it to assault Kaiba's senses leaving him a bit dazed. She looked so beaten, though upon first seeing her he had ensured she was healthy before finding her situation amusing; she was so tiny and lost.

"Get in." He said to her.

Her head came up and she looked into Kaiba's eyes. He wasn't joking. That much was obvious, but was he really offering her a ride? She just stared into his eyes, not knowing how to respond and not sure she wanted to. She blinked up at him in surprise, this was so unlike him.

He growled and repeated in a harsh tone, "Get in." as he gestured to the awaiting limo. That was more like it, Kaiba showing his true colors. His appearance had triggered the remainder of her adrenaline to kick in so she was stubborn in her reply.

"I would rather walk," she said, crossing her arms. He was shocked. A moment ago it had appeared she was on the verge of collapsing, and now she was talking of walking home. He rolled his eyes.

"You'll faint before you make it ten steps," he teased.

"I would rather _pass out _on a street corner than accept your help," she huffed. How dare he assume she was weak! He could have at least called it passing out instead of using such a delicate a word as 'faint'.

That brought him up short. He had been so absorbed with the thought of Alice fainting into his arms he hadn't prepared for her come back. To be frank it stung, never would he have thought she would reject his assistance. "If you think I'm going to let you walk home, in the pouring rain, in the middle of the night, you're insane." Kaiba sneered.

"Let me, hardly! Call me crazy then, but I am so not sticking around anymore." Alice said as she turned to leave. Kaiba grabbed her upper arm and pulled her back.

Alice felt thrilled that he had stopped her; she had half expected him to let her go. She stared at him and for a brief span of time thought he was going to force her into his car. Her eyes widened, she would definitely fight back. To be honest she would love a ride, but her pride would not allow her to back down. The longer you go on fighting, the harder it is to give up in the end.

Kaiba turned his head toward his limo, "Follow along beside us." She hadn't noticed the passenger's side window was down and Alice raised her eyebrows, not understanding his statement. He dropped her arm and walked past her, the way she had been heading.

"Where are you going?" She asked in alarm. Was he leaving her here?

Kaiba turned around and wanted to laugh at the expression on her face. It seemed that while she had claimed to not want his assistance, she still didn't want him to leave. "I'm walking you home," he replied emotionlessly.

Her expression cleared and she walked over to his side. He was willing to walk her home, in the pouring rain, when she had refused to take a ride. _Perhaps chivalry isn't as dead as most people believe,_ she thought as she shook her head slowly. Kaiba was the last person she would have expected this from, but that only made it all the better. If he could give in, then she could as well.

She sighed, releasing all the ill feelings toward the man in front of her. "I'll get in," she said quietly.

Without another word Kaiba moved to the limo door and opened it. She slide in and was relieved that it was mildly warmer inside. Kaiba followed and the door was shut, there was a small silence before the chauffeur spoke up.

"And where do you live miss?" he asked kindly as he turned to face the open privacy divider.

For a moment she hesitated, did she want Kaiba to know where she lived? She tenderly bit her bottom lip and considered her options. Realizing there really were none she decided that the CEO was probably one of the only people who wouldn't treat her differently. "Pleasant Sage Road, 3491." The diver nodded, apparently knowing where that was.

"I was headed out to get Mr. Kaiba some coffee, would you care for anything Miss Porter?" The chauffer asked as he pulled away from the curb.

She was slightly stunned he had known her name. In the back of her mind she wondered what that could possibly mean, but decided to push that aside for later. "No thank you." The driver nodded and they continued in silence.

Even though they had left the cold and rain, Alice was still being affected by it. She shivered and sniffled as she rubbed her hands together. To her surprise Kaiba began to remove his white trench coat, handing it to her with a muttered, "Here."

Perplexed, but grateful, she took the offered coat and slide her arms into it. The coat was much too long for her, but since it didn't really have sleeves it wasn't an issue. The white-silver trench coat felt warm against her cold body. It occurred to her how this might look to someone, like the chauffer, who didn't know the reasons for their acquaintance. She blushed profusely, "Thanks."

Kaiba merely grunted in response. The driver turned the heater up higher and Alice slowly began to warm up. She was enjoying the jacket far more than she should. It smelled wonderful, exactly like him. She had only smelled him on rare occasions, but it was intoxicating. Alice inhaled deeply allowing his scent to overwhelm and calm her.

When Kaiba could take the silence no more he stated, "That was immensely stupid of you to walk home in the rain."

Alice reminded herself that he was giving her a ride home and replied calmly, "It wasn't raining when I started walking home."

"Didn't any of your loser friends offer you a ride." Kaiba was fishing for information but the brunette didn't seem to notice.

"They are not losers. Actually Duke," she watched Kaiba stiffen and wanted to do a victory dance, "Offered to give me a ride back home _too_," she stressed the word, reminding him that the black haired annoyance had given her a ride to the movies already, "But they wanted ice cream and I just wanted to go home." The conversation ended there, without either one really wanting it to.

Now that the adrenaline rush had past, Alice's body felt oddly numb. This worried her as the limo pulled up to the coffee shop. They simply went through the drive-through while the chauffer ordered Kaiba's coffee.

Alice was so tired; she could feel her eyelids drooping and her body slowly sagging into the seat. She had to stay awake though. How embarrassing it would be if she fell asleep in Seto Kaiba's limousine.

The chauffer handed the coffee back to Kaiba and Alice caught a whiff of it. She prayed that the smell alone would keep her awake until they reached her house. No such luck came to her; she slowly became unconsciousness in a matter of seconds.

[_A/N: Tee-he :_]


	10. Undecided

[_A/N: My updates and new chapters are going to become slower. That's just a product of life. If you didn't know, I'm still in high school and I have marching band rehearsals already. Be patient with me; I won't give up on the story if you don't give up on me._]

***Disclaimer*** (If I'm using a none profit website to post my story, do you really think I own "Yu-Gi-Oh!"? The answer is no.)

**Chapter 10 – Undecided**

As the chauffer handed back Kaiba's coffee he noticed Alice inhale deeply. For the last several minutes he had been aware that she was dangerously close to sleep. Dangerous because if she fell asleep he had no idea how he would react. She would shake her head and blink her eyes rapidly, only to yawn and slump a bit more in her seat. By the time they left the coffee shop parking lot her head hit the back of the seat.

Kaiba smirked as Alice sighed deeply, giving up on staying awake. He had thought she had been tired when he first saw her, but her argument with him had almost convinced him otherwise.

Kaiba peered at her through the corner of his eye. She seemed to be warming up, her posture was evidence to that. Her hair was beginning to curl slightly as it dried. With her eyes closed her long lashes seemed to touch her cheek, casting shadows under her eyes. He shook his head at the foolish girl beside him; how any person could let themselves get to this level of exhaustion was beyond him. He probably got less sleep than her, but he was used to the burden so it weighed less on his shoulders.

It was apparent when Alice fell asleep because her mouth opened ever so slightly and her face relaxed infinitesimally. Kaiba was relieved that she had already told Roland her address. If she had failed to do this she would have had to spend the night at the Kaiba Mansion. Not that he minded, on the contrary, the thought was very intriguing. He knew however that if she did indeed spend the night at the mansion, he wouldn't want her to leave.

_That's wrong. Very, very wrong, _he chastised himself. Having these kinds of thoughts with Alice, no Porter, right next to him was not healthy in the least. Since when did he call her by her first name? He was shocked to find that only out loud did he call her Porter, mentally she was been Alice after… after he had used her name to get information from her. He found it difficult to switch back now. Her name did sound so lovely, he enjoyed saying it…even just thinking it.

The driver made a left turn and Alice's head fell onto his shoulder. Her body pressed up against his until the vehicle straightened out. The pressure on his side was relieved, but her head was still laying harmlessly on his shoulder. Kaiba didn't know what to do, because although he had been in situations like this before, with Alice it was something different.

With the other girls they were always rich and spoiled; he knew they did it just for the attention. Their moves were deliberate and hardly pure. What Alice did was almost 180 degrees different. She was actually asleep, her head just happened to fall on his shoulder, coincidence. She looked so sweet and innocent just lying there beside him, a true vision of perfection. Even though her hair was a bit of a mess, her clothes were drenched, and she was sleep deprived, he thought she was the most exquisite thing he'd ever seen.

In his mind Kaiba was at war with himself. There were two options that he could see; what he wanted, and what was right. What he wanted was still unclear, he was still struggling within himself to determine that. However what was right was obvious and unclouded; if he were to do that he would begin to avoid Alice completely. No longer would he insist on her presence or try to intimidate her into an action. He would ignore her like she was any other girl. Kaiba sighed as he looked down at the goddess on his shoulder. It would be very difficult to avoid her, perhaps even impossible. Did he want to avoid her?

Alice adjusted her position, snuggling into his side. Kaiba felt his face grow rather hot and his mouth twitched as she pulled him to her tightly. Without even thinking about it he put his arm around her and held her close. How was it wrong to want to be with her when she fit so perfectly in his arms. Her body was lean and slim, but soft and very appealing. Her curves had only been hinted at in the school uniform, but now they were dangerously more apparent.

"We're here, Mr. Kaiba." Roland informed him. When Kaiba was finally able to he looked away from Alice and to her house. _She lives here? What the hell!?_ He thought with a fair bit of chagrin. He had expected maybe a small house, a large apartment at the least, but not this.

Her house was massive; it was only just smaller than his mansion in size and stature. It was a beautiful, pale white that didn't really demand attention and wouldn't stand out from the road. Her yard was perfectly green and very well kept. There was maybe ten to twenty acres, some of it covered in trees. A garden was visible at the far right end of the house and a small pond around back. Her parents must have been loaded for them to live here. She didn't seem like the rich type though. All the ones he met were honestly too stuck up to see their own horrid flaws.

Suddenly something occurred to him; was her house locked? He began to panic. What if he couldn't get her into her house? Would he have to take her home with him? He attempted to control his reaction to no avail. He looked her over. She wasn't carrying a purse or bag of any kind, her skirt had no pockets, so where were her keys? _This could be a problem, _Kaiba thought as he stepped out of the limo into the cold night air._ I'll worry about it when it comes time._

Eagerly, perhaps too eagerly, Kaiba leaned back into the limo and took Alice gently into his arms, cradling her against his chest. She fit so perfectly against him, so soft and warm. As he walked to her front door he missed the look on the chauffeur's face.

_Never thought I would see the day that Mr. Kaiba carried a girl to her door,_ Roland thought as he hurried to catch up with his boss. _Normally he would leave the girl on a curb, or wake her and tell her to get lost… who is she?_ Roland opened the door for Kaiba, it was unlocked, and he instructed him to wait in the car.

As Kaiba crossed the threshold he skillfully managed to find the light switch. Her house was just as phenomenal inside as it was out. Suddenly he remembered about her parents so he called out. He waited, but no response came. _Perhaps they're asleep already, _Kaiba thought as he made his way into the living room. He approached the tan suede couch and reluctantly laid Alice's still sleeping body on it. She immediately repositioned herself on it, rolling on her side. Kaiba laughed softly as he watched Alice sleep for a few moments.

He looked around the living room to see if he could shed some light on her character. There was only one photograph he could see; it was in an old metal frame that was tarnished in several places. The black and white photograph it contained was of three people, one of which was a nine year old Alice. It appeared to have been taken in front of some pyramid in Egypt, though which one was uncertain. The two people on either side of her must be her parents. The picture and frame lay on the coffee table, on its back as if it were constantly held.

_Who only has one family photo? _Kaiba thought as he replaced the picture where he found it, _and from about eight years ago, wouldn't one more recent–_ His thought stopped abruptly as he spotted the painting above her fireplace. It was a very simple painting of Alice, but because of its simplicity it shined with elegance. In this painting Kaiba found it much harder to deny that Aeris and Alice were not one in the same. From the dress she wore to the way she held herself screamed of confidence. She had the look of a high priestess of Egypt, observing calmly as her kingdom flourished. Kaiba shuddered and turned back to look at the subject of the painting.

It was a mystery to him, one he feared he may never solve. He took a seat in a matching tan arm chair across from her. As he set there he pondered on everything that happened to him these past few days. While with her time ceased to mean anything, it almost appeared to stop. Alas the time always seemed to be up, no matter how soon they had started. The time without her was excruciatingly dull, almost physically painful. Kaiba stared at her sleeping figure. _Do I care for her? _he mused. Everything was so unclear, so uncertain.

"Hmm, Seto." Alice mumbled. It felt as if fire had just shot through Kaiba's veins.

_Did she just talk in her sleep!?_ he thought in shock. He listened more intently and heard her mumble a few incoherent words. _Yes, she's definitely talking in her sleep…she said my name,_ Kaiba thought smugly. _I quite like the sound of it on her tongue, Seto._ Kaiba laughed out loud. This was so wrong of him; to sit in her house and watch her sleep. He thought about taking her to her room, but that felt intrusive. He had concluded that her parents were not home, but all the same he should leave.

Should, but he didn't want to. Sighing he took a blanket from the end of the couch and spread it across her. She looked positively stunning in his trench coat. He'd just let her keep it for a day, so she would have to see him again sooner to return it. With a sense of relief and regret he did a few last minute things and left Alice's house, locking the door behind him.

_~~~DFAD~~~_

Alice stood in the clearing mist around the Lake of Shadows. For the first time she beat Kaiba here. As she spun slowly searching for him, she seemed to realize that she couldn't remember falling asleep. _I must have been working so hard I didn't notice,_ she concluded.

Alice hated sleeping; it was a waste of her valuable time. She had so many better things to do. Sleep was merely a product of horror for her. It was too time consuming and it gave the allusion of comfort and tranquility when in fact it left you exposited and defenseless. She tried to block the images that accompanied these thoughts, but Kaiba's serene face in the library forced its way in.

He had looked so tired, and yet so peaceful resting in the library's arm chair. Looking at Seto, _damn it_, Kaiba while he was asleep was, to be hones,t one of the highlights of her day. She had started to believe that he was cold and distant all the time, until she saw him asleep in the library… and then when they almost kissed.

"You're early," Alice turned to find Kaiba right behind her. Normally this would frighten others, but for her it was a comfort like no other.

"I need to speak with you," she replied promptly. It was a partial lie, she didn't need to…she wanted to. There were several things she wanted the answers to.

Kaiba reached forward and took her hands in his, so warm and surprising soft, but still hard and calloused from use. "You're in an awful hurry," he said raising an eyebrow. _Damn, he's suspicious… I always wanted to be able to do that._

"I'm not staying this time," she was pleased to see that Seto… Kaiba was saddened by the thought.

"What do you mean?" He asked as he let her hands go. She didn't like this, she felt less brave without his touch. She wanted to test her theory, but she was appalled at the possibility that this could end badly.

"You like her, don't you? Alice, I mean." Kaiba crossed his arms over his chest defensively.

"I don't see how that's any of your business." He replied curtly. Alice hadn't expected him to be this cold toward her, or rather Aeris, not here. Her eyes widened and it seemed that Kaiba had realized what he'd said. "I can't get her out of my head, she's like the plague. I have you here, and I thought that would be enough but…" He was unable to finish, so Alice jumped in.

"What is it about her that makes me not enough," Alice asked, she attempted to make her voice sad but it fell just short.

"You're in my head, you tell me." Alice noticed his eyes narrow infinitesimally. She needed to be more careful.

"She's real," Alice sighed with a slight pout. "I can never be that. She constantly challenges and undermines you…you enjoy it." If possible his arms grew even tighter around his chest. "You don't want to admit this though, because that would give her leverage over you. Seto, you like being the one with power… but don't let it rule you." She didn't know where half of this was coming from; she didn't believe most of it herself so how could she expect Kaiba to?

"You have it all worked out, don't you?" He asked as he stared into her eyes. Alice gulped, she could feel him probing her. Her mind was screaming at her. _He knows! He knows! Oh crap, he knows! _She had gone too far, revealed too much, this was so over. Maybe she could save herself somehow.

"I only have it worked out as far as you have, the rest," she shook her head, "The rest is up to you. Without you, I wouldn't exist." Though this was just something said to ease his conscience, she couldn't help feel how right it was. She added only two words to it, want to. 'Without you, I wouldn't _want to _exist.' She never used to be this melodramatic. When had she become so dependent on him? This was utterly insane, he's Seto Kaiba…but then again he's _Seto Kaiba!_

"I suppose that's true," Kaiba said as he looked down at her. Alice was so deeply submerged in her own thoughts she missed the intelligent glint in his eyes. When she looked back up at him he continued, "So where does that leave us?"

She giggled and hugged his chest, "It's called an impasse. We're in two completely different worlds." Hugging him in a dream wasn't like being near him in real life at all. Sure she was closer to him here, but out there his smell and style were so engrossing that it nearly left her speechless. She knew she was doing the right thing when she stepped away from him. "This is the last time I'll see you," she said as she leaned up and kissed his cheek softly.

She was going to miss this, seeing his softer side. But if she wanted to preserve her sanity she had to end the charade now. She couldn't keep up with being two people, and knowing Se..Kaiba, differently as well. Kaiba gave her one of his rare smiles as he replied calmly, "Goodbye Aeris, tell Alice I'll be seeing her."

Alice repressed her reaction and simply shook her head, "Always so paranoid. This is the final farewell Seto, there will be no next time." And with that she vanished from sight, and awoke in a dark room.

[_A/N: Comments, questions, complaints? Anyone?_]


	11. Arbitration

[_A/N: I appreciate that none of you are complaining that it's taking me longer and longer to write. Thank you! Of course I'll keep writing, how else will I get these crazy stories out of my head?_]

[_There's a woman in this chapter who mixes in Italian words when she talks, so I hope this helps! __mio dio – my god; signora – lady; il mio amore – my love; bambino – child; la mia ragazza – my girl; giovane donna – young woman_]

***Disclaimer*** (Don't own it, "Yu-Gi-Oh!" I mean)

**Chapter 11 – Arbitration**

Alice groaned and rolled over. Her head hit the coffee table with a sickening thud and she yelped in pain. For a few moments she just laid on the wooden floor of her living room. When it finally clicked that she was home, and had been laying on her couch asleep, she sat bolt upright. As the blood began to flow back down into her legs, so the events of the previous night came with it.

She remembered talking with Seto in his dream, well not so much his dream as talking to him while he was sleeping…hmmm. Before that, what happened before that? Alice stood up and smoothed out the white trench coat she was…_white coat!? SETO!_ Realization hit her with the force of ten semi trucks. She had fallen asleep in Seto's limousine, but how had she gotten home? Seto had offered her a ride, then after a lot of persuasion she agreed. _I was soaking wet and he gave me his jacket__, _she blushed as she remembered. _Then I got tired and just relaxed against the seat. I vaguely remember him carrying me somewhere…did he really do all of this for me. _

She felt utterly at peace as she hugged the jacket tighter to her chest, it still smelled wonderfully of him. Off in her own little world it took Alice a moment to notice the picture laying facedown on the coffee table. That alone sobered her up instantly. What had he found out? Hurriedly she grabbed the picture and examined it. It looked to still be in decent shape, nothing wrong with it. She laid it back on the coffee table, praying he hadn't noticed too much.

There were some things she was sure he wouldn't fail to notice. The big house being one of them, and the portrait of herself above the fire place as well. Had he noticed that she had no parents, that she was alone in this house? Well almost alone. She continued to worry until she noticed a folded piece of white paper on the coffee table with her name on it.

'_Alice,'_

Such a simple thing, but it sent chills through her. It was probably just dry-cleaning instructions from Seto, along with a request for his jacket back. She was surprised he hadn't tried to take it off her unconscious body. Or maybe it was a bill for his services. Blushing fiercely she grabbed the note hoping to distract herself from where her mind was headed.

'_Try not to fall asleep in anyone else's car._

_~ Seto Kaiba_

_Also you should really think about locking your door.'_

Alice read the words again and again, as if they would change. She had expected him to be snide, but not so… smug. She could almost hear him telling her how she should do things. Grinding her teeth together she clenched her hand into a fist. _I can take care of myself, _she thought angrily as she slipped the jacket off preparing to throw it to the ground. It was so smooth and warm; she paused, holding it in her hands. _Maybe… maybe he was just trying to be helpful. Yeah right, Kaiba being helpful._ Nevertheless, she sighed rolling her eyes as she laid the jacket on the kitchen table to be dry-cleaned.

She went to take a shower and get ready for the day. For the past few days she had been planning to paint one of the game rooms. It was in desperate need of a makeover. Pulling her towel around her she went to look in her closet. She could hear sounds coming from her living room and knew that her staff must have arrived.

Staff was hardly the right word though. She only had two people who worked for her; Amy, her personal assistant, or as others call it a maid. Then there was Sofia, her cook. In truth she could get by without their help. She didn't fire them however because they provided her with company and it made the house a bit less grand. Alice pulled on a pair of old jeans and a surprisingly tight fitting plaid button up shirt. While rolling up her sleeves she made her way to the kitchen.

"Mio dio, what has Signora Alice done with dis place. The young miss will 'ave to find someone soon. She 'as too much time on 'er 'ands for such a pretty girl." Sofia exclaimed as she saw the organizing Alice had done in the kitchen.

"I think it's lovely that she likes to do things herself. You're right though Sofia, she needs a ah…Miss Porter!" Amy exclaimed as she saw Alice leaning in the doorway. "Er, I mean… good morning, Alice."

Alice laughed, "Good morning to you too Amy, Sofia." Amy looked positively guilty as she began to find things to occupy her time. Sofia however looked Alice over. She took in her clothes, dripping hair, and slightly flushed cheeks… healthy, she concluded.

"And what would you like for breakfast, Il mio amore?" Sofia asked as she opened the refrigerator.

"Hmm," Alice said thoughtfully, as she sat down on the island. "I don't know. Surprise me."

Sofia had worked for the Porter family for over twenty years, and she knew what Alice liked. Sofia had long dark hair that she usually wore up in a bun. She was in her early fifty's without a gray hair on her head. She had very tan skin and spoke with a pleasing Italian accent. Amy had shoulder length naturally red hair and light brown eyes. She was tall and athletic, in her early twenties or late teens.

Amy was busy tiding up the house when she noticed a white trench coat on the table. "Alice, what is this?" She delicately held the jacket out for Alice to see. Neither one of the woman missed the look on Alice's face upon seeing the jacket.

"Oh, umm… that's my friend's jacket. I borrowed it and I would like to have it dry-cleaned before I return it." Alice offered, attempting to tell the truth without revealing too much. She had deliberately avoided mentioning who the owner of the jacket was and how she had come to possess it; this did not go unnoticed.

"Ah, Alice 'ave you found yourself a male friend?" Sofia inquired as she filled a plate with eggs, bacon, and toast.

Alice shook her head furiously as she took the plate. "No, no! It's nothing like that Sofia. I mean, well he is a male… and I suppose he's my friend, but not in the way you're implying. He would never consider dating someone like me." Alice finished softly as she bit off a piece of toast.

"Someone like you," Amy repeated. "Is he gay?" Amy peeked at Alice from the corner of her eye because the brunette had begun to choke.

"Of course not! He's just so high classed that he only dates rich and powerful heiresses." Alice said shrugging, "Not that I care."

Sofia suppressed a wicked smile. _Not that she cares, bah! It appears that this man 'as captured Alice's interest, now 'ow to proceed?_ She thought as she cleaned up. She was startled when Amy let out a shrill shriek.

"What is it!?" Alice asked in alarm. She turned to see Amy still holding Kaiba's jacket, staring at it with wide eyes. Her hands began to tremble, _she knows…oh boy, here it comes!_

Amy gingerly turned the jacket to face the other two women. Alice was looking at her with horror filled eyes while Sofia looked utterly confused.

"Speak bambino, what is the matter?" Sofia demanded as she set down the wet washcloth she had been using to scrub the pan.

"KC! As in Kaiba Corporation!? Alice, this is Seto Kaiba's jacket…right?" Amy asked hoarsely as she shook the jacket in front of her.

Alice swallowed her mouth full of eggs, and it went down her throat like bricks. There was no use lying, they would see through her. She cringed slightly, knowing how they would respond when they found out the truth. Bracing herself she closed her eyes, "It is."

"La mia ragazza! What did you do?" Sofia asked sternly.

"Seto Kaiba! _THE_ Seto Kaiba!" Amy exclaimed as her eyes widened on the jacket.

"I'm telling you, it is not what you think." Alice said as she opened her eyes and took in their expressions. Amy's was that of wonder. It was obvious she was impressed with her; she was probably a huge Kaiba fan. Sofia however looked positively livid, a hard frown on her full lips; Sofia had always treated her like a daughter, so naturally the idea of Seto anywhere near Alice had her worried.

"Then what is it exactly, giovane donna?" Sofia asked raising an eyebrow. _There's another person who can do it,_ Alice thought as a side note.

Pushing her food aside and hopping off the island she walked to Amy and gently took the jacket. For some odd reason the feel of it in her hands made her feel braver. Squaring her shoulders and holding her head up high she told the two women of the events of last night. She began with her walk home and her heel snapping, the rain falling, her exhaustion, Kaiba's offer, the jacket. She spared no detail she could remember and by the end she held out the simple note he had left for her.

"Wow. I had no idea Mr. Kaiba could be so courteous." Amy said as she took a seat at the table. She absently played with a strand of her russet hair.

"You keep an eye on 'em bambino. I 'ave 'eard stories." Sofia let the sentence hang. Alice could sense how very serious Sofia was, so she stood hastily and made an announcement.

"I'm going to be painting today, so I'll need to go buy some paint." She attempted to skirt around her cook but was caught by Amy who had finally collected herself.

"I should go for you Alice, after all that is a part of my job." Amy was just trying to be helpful, but at the moment Alice wanted nothing more than to escape.

"I can handle it, besides I could use the fresh air." Grabbing her shoes she headed for the door and said over her shoulder, "Don't forget to have the jacket dry-cleaned." With that she left her house and began to walk down her driveway.

Amy giggled as she watched Alice sauntering down the pavement. She turned to find Sofia staring at her with those same stern eyes. Quickly she clamped her mouth shut and gathered up Kaiba's jacket.

"You might as well go and buy 'er some paint too," Sofia offered, "I 'ave a feeling our girl is always being sidetracked."

This time around Alice had picked shoes that were a bit more sensible for walking; simple black sneakers. She was still rather irked that she had experienced yet another event worthy of being called a 'Kaiba incident'. What was it with her and suddenly finding him around?

It wasn't as cold today as it had been yesterday. The sun was out and that alone kept Alice from shivering. Honestly it was a nice day, so Alice decided to take the long way to the store. She wound through a few trails and several playgrounds. She could hear the birds singing in the nearby park. A couple of brilliant blue birds flow out ahead of her and she laughed out loud as they raced around the trees. It seemed that everyone was enjoying their day off. Well, almost everyone.

_~~~DFAD~~~_

Kaiba sat in his desk typing what seemed to be a never-ending memo. So many things were going wrong lately at Kaiba Corp. The lights flickered every half hour, the bathrooms seemed to flood every day, the revolving doors out front were stuck, his secretary had been out sick for the past four days, and the maintenance team he had hired yesterday to fix most of these problems was completely incompetent. The only things that seemed to remotely function properly were the elevators and his plasma TV that was as of right now spouting out a story about some duelist. Kaiba was hardly listening to it but in the back of his mind, the words were still sinking in.

"…one of the world's best duelists missing. The unknown dueling phenomenon has always worn a cover in public so no one really knows who he, or she, really is. The famous duelist was last seen in the eastern portion of the United States. The duelist's fans are in an absolute uproar." The reporter went on to interview a couple of the fans. They told the reporter that they all referred to the mystery duelist as "Red X" because of the 'x' on the underside of their duel disk. The reporter gave out a number if anyone should obtain information about said duelist.

_I wonder how Mokuba's doing, _Kaiba thought as he finally hit send on the memo.

_~~~DFAD~~~_

Alice was just about through the park when she saw five kids playing together on the basketball court. As she grew closer to the court she came to the realization that what they were doing was no game.

Four of the boys, and they were definitely boys, were shoving the fifth and smaller boy around roughly. They were shouting things at the black haired boy as he stumbled between each of them. The four boys didn't look much older, but were quite a bit bigger; they would tower over Alice as well. Her heart went out to the raven haired boy being bullied. She knew what it was like to be teased for being small. She did not want to intervene however, but she could stand to watch it no longer.

Thinking on her feet she pulled out her cell phone and flipped it open. She let it hang loosely in her hand, as if she had just gotten off the phone. Twisting her face into a scowl she quickened her pace toward the group of boys.

"Hey!" She shouted as she neared the edge of the court. The boys continued to shove the boy around but looked up at the call. They narrowed their eyes on her tiny figure, determining if she was a threat or not. Seeing the open cell phone in her hands they gave the boy one last shove that sent him to the ground and fled.

Alice rushed over to the hurt boy shoving her phone hastily into her pocket. She knelt down beside him, surprised he wasn't crying out in pain.

"Are you alright?" She asked as she tenderly touched his back.

The boy jerked away from her touch and replied icily, "I don't need your help lady!"

Alice smiled at him; he didn't like to seem weak either. She of all people could understand that, so she unlike most knew how to deal with it. "Yeah, sorry. I'm sure you could have handled it yourself, but I was being picked on by those guys a few days ago and wanted to get them back." _Why is it that I can lie about unnecessary details? _"Well, I guess I'll see you around," she said as she stood and began to walk away from the black haired boy.

"Wait!" He called as he attempted to get up. He was in pretty bad shape so Alice turned back to him.

_Could it be that she really doesn__'__t know who I am?_He thought as she came back to his side. _At first I thought she was just helping me because of the pay off my brother could give her__... __but I don__'__t know now. She seems genuinely concerned._

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so rude. I appreciate your help… oh, I'm Mokuba by the way," he added happily as he tried to shake Alice's hand and ended up falling off balance. Alice caught and steadied him. Mokuba blushed at the thought of being helped around by a girl.

"Those guys did a number on you," Alice said sadly, "Come on. I'll get you cleaned up."

"Not that I wouldn't appreciate the help," he said hesitantly, "But my brother always told me not to talk to strangers."

She giggled, "Well you've already told me your name, so I'm Alice." Upon saying this Mokuba reexamined her with wide eyes.

_Alice! As in Seto__'__s Alice? Oh this is just too good, what luck._Mokuba thought mischievously. She was very pretty and he could definitely see the appeal she must exhibit for Seto. She was everything he was, and also everything he wasn't.

She continued with a smile and stated, "Now we're not strangers any more."

Mokuba nodded in agreement, "We're practically best friends now!"

Alice smiled down at him, "Yes we are. When we get to my house I'll get you cleaned up and you can call your brother. How does that sound?"

He agreed and turned to leave the park but his leg collapsed out from under him. Yelping in pain he grabbed his ankle. Alice bent down and picked Mokuba up in her arms. She was sure he wouldn't like this; he looked to be about thirteen maybe fourteen, and being carried by a girl was never a good thing. He was in no condition to walk however. She quickly struck up a conversation with him so that he wouldn't think on it.

"So Mokuba, why exactly were those boys picking on you?" She used the term 'picking on' for fear that any stronger expletive would be upsetting.

"They were trying to make me tough, like my big brother." Mokuba explained in a whisper. Alice had no insight as to why he was whispering, but she went with it.

"You want to be like your brother?" Alice asked at the same volume Mokuba had previously used.

"Yeah, my brother is sooo great, Alice. He's smart, really strong, and funny." To Mokuba, Seto was all of those things because so far only he had been able to crack the ice capsule shrouding Kaiba. With a wicked smile Mokuba continued with, "Oh I wish you could meet him Alice, he's the best! I just know you two would get along great."

Still whispering Alice replied, "Maybe I'll meet him someday. But Mokuba," Alice's tone changed to a stern warning, "Those boys weren't trying to make you tough. They were just getting amusement out of your situation."

Mokuba looked into Alice's eyes, amethyst to emerald, his lips stretched into an unconscious smile. "You sound like my brother."

Alice smiled too as she replied, "I'll take that as a complement." Fearing that she hadn't gotten her point across clearly enough she asked, "Mokuba, what would your brother have done if those boys had done that to him?"

Mokuba thought about it for a moment. _Seto would probably have beaten the tar out of them. But isn__'__t that what they__'__re trying to help me do, be tougher. I don__'__t want Alice to think Seto is mean though,_Mokuba thought as he readied a reply for Alice.

"He wouldn't have let them get him in the first place," Mokuba concluded.

"Exactly," Alice said excitedly. "Your brother probably would have stood up to those boys. That's what being tough is. It's not about how strong physically you are; it's how brave you are. Whether you have the courage to stand up against what's wrong. Do you see what I'm saying, Mokuba?"

Everything suddenly clicked in his head. All the words Seto and Alice had said to him fit together perfectly, forming an idea that was genuine. "Yes, I think I do."

"I'm glad," Alice smiled down at the boy in her arms. She was lucky that the park was close to her house, and luckier that Mokuba was light, and luckiest that she'd been training so hard recently. "We're here." She announced as she turned and started to head up the long driveway.

Mokuba gasped, "You're house is pretty big." She thanked him for the complement and proceeded to take him inside.

[_A/N: Review :) _]


	12. Paint

[_A/N: I feel so loved! Thank-you reviewers :) Any who, I was originally going to put the contents of this chapter into the one before…but then it would have taken longer to post._]

***Disclaimer*** (I, the fabulous creator of the OCs (omg I just found out what that meant, I know I'm lame) Alice, Aeris, and all the other fluffy characters who no one cares about *cough, cough* _Mikaila, _am in no way a owner of the immensely superior works of "Yu-Gi-Oh!". To sum all that none sense up, I rock…but not that much ;) )

**Chapter 12 – Paint**

"Sofia! I see Alice, she's oh!" Amy exclaimed as she noticed the boy draped in her benefactor's arms. Her brown eyes widened in alarm as she took in the boy's condition. His right eye was swelling slightly, he had a cut on his cheek, his ankle looked at the very least sprained, not to mention all the small cuts on the knees of his jeans. Amy quickly looked to see how Alice was and was overwhelmed with relief when she appeared unharmed. Once Amy was able to get over her shock she ran to the door.

Alice was contemplating kicking her own door down when it suddenly swung open. She cringed at the thought of Sofia's face, but was pleased to see it was Amy. _I'll have to check my things for tracking devises…that was a little creepy. __"_Amy, bring first aid supplies to the kitchen." Amy bowed and ducked out of the room with a reply of "Right away, Ma'am." Alice would have taken Mokuba to her room, but she wasn't sure she could maneuver the stairs with the extra weight.

Mokuba's cheeks grew red at the thought of other people seeing him being carried by Alice. He prayed that she would set him down soon. Despite his embarrassment at being carried around Mokuba tried to pay attention to every detail concerning the brunette. _She has a maid,_Mokuba thought. _So she has to have some money. That__'__s a good thing, that way I know she won__'__t like Seto for the wrong reason__... __now I just have to do a little digging._Although Alice couldn't see it, the smirk Seto Kaiba was so famous for crossed Mokuba's angelic face; it must be a family thing.

Alice turned when she entered the living room and headed towards the door on the right. When she walked into the kitchen she was assaulted by accusations from Sofia. She tried to ignore them as she set Mokuba down on the island, but she heard her staccato and sharp Italian words all the same.

"Io ti permettono di uscire di casa per un'ora e questo è ciò che accade. Ragazza, sarete fortunati se si può lasciare durante le ore di scuola! Come hai potuto lasciare che ciò accada? Guardatelo! Egli guarda, come se egli è passato attraverso un frullatore. Chiedo di sapere cosa è successo. Voglio tutti i dettagli giovane donna, non solo la tua vaghi contorni. I tuoi genitori possono essere andato, ma tu sei la mia responsabilità ora. Non posso credere che hai preso il tempo di tradurre questo, punti di brownie!" Sofia's accusations continued, but at that time Amy had returned with the supplies.

Alice began to patch Mokuba up as she explained to Amy and Sofia what happened. Neither was very happy with the story, but they grew visibly more at ease as the story progressed. As they relaxed and Alice finished her tale Amy looked Mokuba over once again. Upon this second inspection she recognized him. She opened her mouth to make the declaration that he was Seto Kaiba's little brother when she saw the look on his face.

Mokuba caught the maid, Amy, staring at him and he could almost see the gears as they turned in her head. When she made the connection Mokuba silently pleaded with her to remain silent. If his plan was to work properly he would need Alice to be oblivious for now. A slow smile appeared on Amy's face and she nodded mutely.

"There, all done! How do you feel?" she asked as worry creased her brow.

_How could anyone this caring be as awful as Seto made her sound? _"I feel great! Wow, you're really good at this."

She gave a weak smile and said sadly, "I've had practice."

Sofia tensed up and tried to distract herself by distracting others. "Would you care for anything to eat bambino?" Mokuba smiled widely as he and Sofia started to discuss foods.

Alice felt extremely tired, though she didn't understand why. Mokuba, of all people, should be tired, but there he sat happy as a bird with a french-fry. She twirled a strand of her brilliant brown hair idly as she listened to the conversations.

Mokuba was wolfing down pancake after pancake and talking of school and his brother. The little guy really seemed to love him, but Alice could hear a faint hitch in his voice when he talked about his brother. She wondered if his brother was alright, but was terrified to ask. Alice discreetly inquired of Amy about the jacket before noticing it was hanging on a hook on the wall. Amy informed her that she had already taken and retrieved it from the dry-cleaners and that she had bought paint against Alice's wishes. The brunette simply smiled and tried not to gawk at Seto's jacket. The paint was set underneath the glorious white-silver trench coat.

"So Mokuba," Alice said as he finished his last pancake, "Do you want to watch some TV?"

Mokuba gave her a huge smile and replied, "That sounds fun!" But quite suddenly his angelic face fell and his features became somber. "I'm sure you have things to do today though, Alice. I wouldn't want to keep you from them… you've already wasted enough time on me." His voice hitched as he said this last statement.

Alice shook her head at the silly child; did his brother put him off when he needed to get things done? She patted his head and spoke softly, "You haven't interrupted anything Mokuba, and I didn't mind helping you. And now I get to enjoy your company, so we can do whatever you want." Mokuba's smile returned as he looked up at Alice with glistening eyes.

"Thanks, Alice! You're the best." He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist. She giggled and patted his back.

"No problem Mokuba, what are best friends for?" She felt slightly ridiculous calling him her best friend though they had just met, but it made the raven haired boy infinitely happier.

Mokuba released her and asked, "What were you going to do before you helped me?"

Alice bit her lip. She didn't want him to think he was unimportant, but she really wanted to paint the game room. Hesitantly she stated, "I was going to paint…" she trailed off as she gestured to the paint cans on the floor. Mokuba's eyes widened and she feared that he was about to cry.

_That__'__s Seto__'__s jacket! What is it doing here?_ Mokuba thought as he suppressed a wicked smile. It was hanging right above the cans of paint, and Alice only just seemed to notice what he was staring at it. "Nice jacket, Alice. It looks a little big for you though," Mokuba commented nonchalantly as he approached what he was sure was his brother's jacket. He heard Amy snicker slightly in the background, apparently finding this all rather amusing.

"Oh, umm thanks, Mokuba. It's not mine though; I just borrowed it last night. I had it dry-cleaned and I'm planning on returning it tomorrow. I'll pass along the complement though," Alice said as she grabbed two of the paint cans. Mokuba quickly grabbed one as well and pretended to examine the jacket.

"Alice… this is a boy's jacket. You didn't tell me you had a husband." Mokuba pouted. Alice's face turned red and she fumbled with the paint cans. They nearly fell from her hands but she regained control and skillfully repositioned them. With her face still flushed she turned to Mokuba.

"I don't have a husband Mokuba, I'm only seventeen and still in school." She smiled down at him and continued. "I don't even have a boyfriend. I simply got cold last night and Se..ee… I mean my friend gave me his jacket." Her cheeks grew redder as she almost let slip who the owner of the jacket was.

Mokuba smiled and said, "Come on Alice, let's go paint!" as he rushed out of the kitchen. Alice shook her head at the strange and slightly bipolar child.

"Mokuba, slow down. You don't even know where you're going!"

_~~~DFAD~~~_

Kaiba paced back and forth in front of his mahogany desk. He had a lot of work to do but couldn't focus on any of it at the present. For as long as he could remember Mokuba would always call him at the least two times before five o'clock, it was now 6:37pm and still not one call. Normally he would dread his brother's troublesome interruptions, for he knew that each time they came he would deny the boy of some tiny trinket. But he had also come to expect them, and when things didn't come that you expect, irritation and worry are very much present.

The phone on Kaiba's desk began to ring and he picked it up and barked, "What!" into the receiver.

"Mr. Kaiba, your brother is on line one." His temporary secretary for the day said hesitantly. Without even a thank you Kaiba hung up on the woman and switched to line one.

"Mokuba?" Kaiba asked as he tried to suppress his building irritation.

"Hey bro! I'm having the most awesome day." Mokuba gushed. Kaiba slowly exhaled in relief and rolled his eyes. He had been worried about his little brother, but this was exactly how Mokuba worked.

"You were supposed to call a while ago, what happened?" He asked as he turned and sat back down in his chair. "And why not call my cell?"

"Because my cell got broken when I fell in the while I was with my normal friends and..."

Kaiba's hand tightened into a fist at the word "friends". He knew Mokuba meant the kids that beat him up regularly. How could Mokuba be so naïve? _I thought I taught him better than this, _Kaiba thought angrily.

"Did you hear me!?" Mokuba demanded.

"No," he replied simply.

"I made a new friend! She helped me out with the other guys. You were right about them; they weren't trying to help me at all."

Kaiba sat in silence for a few moments absorbing what Mokuba had said. It was obvious to him that whoever this girl was she was just using Mokuba to get something. He was sure he had warned Mokuba about things like this before. No one ever does something because it's "the right thing to do".

"Mokuba," he sighed.

"I know what you're going to say bro, and I've already thought about that. She didn't mean anything by it, she was just being nice." Mokuba dropped his voice and admitted, "Honestly bro she has no idea I'm even related to you." That was intriguing. It was rare to come across someone in Domino who wasn't aware that he and Mokuba were brothers. Either this girl was ignorant, a liar, or an outsider.

"Mokuba could you give me a hand with the ladder," Kaiba vaguely heard a female voice say in the background. His eyebrows shot up into his hair in surprise. That voice soundly strangely like a certain brunette beauty. Could it be?

"Sure, Alice! I'll see you tonight big brother! We can go phone shopping for me. Bye!" Before Kaiba could demand any more information Mokuba hung up. He sat in his grand chair, staring at the silent receiver.

_~~~DFAD~~~_

Several hours later Mokuba exited Alice's house after nearly suffocating her with a hug. He waved the piece of paper with Alice's cell number written on it as he ran to get into the vehicle and he promised to be back soon. Alice waved as the limousine pulled away. She was shocked when it had arrived, but she brushed it off for now. She returned to her house, tidying up before it became too late.

_~~~DFAD~~~_

Seto sat in his limo on the way home from the office. He was sure that the girl Mokuba was with had been Alice. Only she would be kind enough to help a complete stranger, oblivious enough to not know that they were related, and from far enough away that it wasn't public knowledge. After so many kidnapping attempts on Mokuba, Kaiba had removed every media trace of their relation from the internet, making the residents of Domino and a few select others the only ones who knew Mokuba's face and name. It was apparent that Mokuba was keeping this fact from her for some reason, and he had a bad feeling about what would happen when she eventually found out. And she would find out, because she was cunning and intelligent. But whatever her response was, Kaiba vowed to be ready.

[_A/N: Sorry it's short. I dislocated my pinkie about halfway through writing this so it made things purdy difficult. Anyways, review please!_]


	13. Unexpected

***Disclaimer*** (Yawn, I don't own "Yu-Gi-Oh!")

**Chapter 13 – Unexpected**

The darkness that assaulted Kaiba's senses was unavoidable and quite normal to him. He slid his slender and muscled legs out of bed and made his way to the shower. Everything he did was so monotonous, so boringly routine that it left him craving some deviance from the ordinary.

His schedule was hectic yes, but it too had become nothing more than a page of paperwork. He awoke at four am on weekends; he would then leave his house by five and spend unheard of hours at work. On weekdays he would usually have only the evening hours for his work. For Seto Kaiba, business did not wait. Unfortunately, this left little time for a social life, or anything else for that matter; i.e. Mokuba.

Kaiba was unaware that for the past several months Mokuba had been waking up at four as well, just so he could watch his brother's limo pull out of the drive. Mokuba knew that Seto didn't mean to neglect him, but that was certainly how it felt to him. The younger Kaiba sat on his window ceil and watched as the sleek black limo was engulfed by the night.

_~~~DFAD~~~_

Kaiba sat on the plush leather seats of his limo and counted the seconds until he would finally arrive at work. If he could somehow invent a way to get to work quicker, that would maximize the amount of time he could spend developing new systems and fixing the ones already in existence. He didn't need the media constantly nagging and breathing down his neck.

Sometimes he wished that he could be some ordinary teenager whose only worries were passing classes and girls… Kaiba nearly laughed at were his thoughts had taken him. Somehow he always wound up thinking about Alice; about how infuriatingly stubborn she was and of her intelligent wit. Then also of Aeris, which he was now entirely convinced was Alice as well. He was still uncertain as to how Alice managed to pull it off, but he was sure if she was motivated enough she could find a way.

What still puzzled him however was that upon their first meeting she had warned him of "Shadows" yet nothing particularly villainous had arrived… yet. There was also the matter of how to confront Alice about his theory. If he presented his idea in the wrong way, even worse if he was incorrect, Alice would forever more view him as a psychopathic lunatic. Fortunately it was but Sunday, giving him ample time to come up with something.

"Mr. Kaiba, we have arrived at Kaiba Corp." Roland informed him as he got out and opened his door. "Is there any particular time you wish me to retrieve you from work today, sir?"

"It will be well past midnight by the time I'm finished, see that you have returned before then." Kaiba replied sternly.

"Yes, sir." Roland said as he closed Kaiba's door and drove off.

Kaiba quickened his pace upon approach to the building. He could see from a distance many people gathered in the lobby. The power was out again. _Great,_ Kaiba mumbled sarcastically as he opened one of the normally automatic doors. The commotion in the room ceased when he entered. Kaiba openly glared at the people gathered in groups and yelled, "What are all of you imbeciles doing just standing around? Get back to work."

One brave man in about his fifties replied, "The power is out, Mr. Kaiba. We can't use the elevators to get to our offices."

"Creevly, you are aware that this building has stairs," Kaiba paused for a moment to smirk then continued. "I'm not paying you to stand around and gossip, so I suggest you all get your exercise and start climbing." He walked past the main desk to the stair case, missing what his employees were talking about.

"Been working here for seven years and he still can't get my name right," the man mumbled then stated a little louder. "It's 'Creevin' not 'Creevly'."

"It's not like he cares," a petite woman said as she followed the crowd to the stairs. "As long as the work gets done he would rather have nothing to do with us."

Kaiba exited the stairs to find his white haired secretary standing in front of her desk looking breathless with his coffee in hand. Without a word of thanks or concern for her recent illness he took the coffee from her and pushed the large mahogany doors out of his way. The secretary followed him into his office with a pen and paper.

"Call the Gehtys & Flines company and inform them that their debt is still to be repaid. Tell the maintenance crew that if these problems aren't fixed by today they are all fired. Speaking of fired get rid of that Creevly and hire a new idiot for whatever job he held. I need the schematics for every duel disk we've ever produced as well as a model of each. I'll also need an update on the top duelist rankings before tomorrow evening. And cancel all my meetings for today, Tabatha."

The secretary, Tabatha, had been writing feverishly in an attempt to catch everything. When she finished writing she asked but three questions, "What should I do with the Decker file, what would you like for lunch this afternoon, and did you mean Creevin sir?"

Kaiba put his hand to his head and messaged his temple as he replied "I'll need the Decker file as well and I will not require lunch for this afternoon. As for Creevin, he can stay if he increases his productivity. It would take too much time and money to train a new idiot for his job."

Tabatha wrote a few more words on her notepad then inquired, "Is there anything else sir?"

Kaiba shook his head no before he remembered something, "If a girl shows up with my white trench coat I want her brought to my office immediately, understood?"

"Sir." Tabatha answered as she bowed and exited the room.

As Kaiba sat down in his large black leather chair the lights flickered back on. "Excellent," he mumbled as he began to boot up all of his systems. Work continued as usual, noon came and went without so much as a flicker in the lights. It seemed things were beginning to look up for Kaiba Corp. It was six in the evening when there was a knock on his door.

"What is it?" Kaiba barked.

Tabatha sheepishly entered the room with files in hand. "The Gehtys & Flines company sent in the first half of their debt an hour ago, the maintenance crew is fairly sure they have fixed most of the problems with the system, Creevin is working on getting you a list of the top duelists as we speak, I have the schematics for all the duel disk we have ever made but the models will take a while to arrive, and I also have the Decker file right here." She set down all the files and documents on Kaiba's desk as he got up to examine them.

"Hmm," Kaiba said. "Let Creevin know he isn't fired." He gathered the documents and began sorting through them.

"Yes sir," Tabatha said as she turned and headed for the door. The door had only just closed when it cracked open again.

"Forget something, Tabatha?" Kaiba asked mockingly as he looked up from the documents. She peaked her head back around the door and stepped halfway back into the room.

"Actually I just got word that a woman carrying a white trench coat has entered the building," she replied with a calculating smile.

Kaiba straightened up immediately and coughed, "Please show her up." Tabatha bowed and exited, shutting the door tightly behind her.

Quickly Kaiba began to tidy up his office, making sure everything was in order. Then he used the reflection of the window to fix his hair. _Why do I feel so nervous,_ he wondered as he rearranged the folders on his desk yet again, _it's only Alice… of course will she ever actually be only Alice?_

_~~~DFAD~~~_

"Excuse me…sir," Alice said to the receptionist at the front desk.

The young blonde man behind the desk smiled widely and replied, "Well howdy ma'am, what can I do ya fer today?"

"Could you tell me where I can find Kaiba's office?" She asked as she shifted the jacket from one arm to the other.

"Do ya have an appointment with Mr. Kaiba?" He asked as he began to type something into his computer.

"Well, umm no."

"I'm terribly sorry miss but if ya don't have an appointment I'm fraid I can't let ya see him." He gave an apologetic smile to her.

"Oh. I… I understand. Thank you for your time." Alice turned to head out the door, confident she could simply return the jacket tomorrow when the man called out to her.

"Hold up a minute miss!"

"Yes?" Alice replied a little more than confused.

"D...do you have a ummm jacket for Mr. Kaiba…" He let his sentence trail off.

"Yes I have his trench coat right here," she said as she held up the white garment.

"My apologies ma'am, I would have let ya in sooner if ya told me you had brought Mr. Kaiba's trench coat for him." Then in a whisper he added, "Please don't tell him I almost didn't let cha in, he'll have my job fer that."

Alice smiled sweetly, "It'll be our little secret."

"Thank ya kindly ma'am, I'll just send ya right up. Go to tha elevator down tha hall, press number 28. Mr. Kaiba's secretary should be waitin fer ya up there."

"Thanks," she responded as she walked down the hall and got into the elevator.

She was feeling extremely conflicted as she pressed the button with the 28 on it. _What am I doing here!_ Alice thought as she paced the length of the elevator. _This is a bad idea. I should have just waited to give his jacket back tomorrow. I suppose I could still leave and– eep!_

Alice squeaked as the elevator jolted to a stop and a voice announced, "Floor twenty-eight" Glaring at the speaker as she exited, Alice muttered "I hate elevators."

Sure enough waiting outside the elevator was a plump white haired woman who rushed forward to meet her. "You must be here to see Mr. Kaiba, am I correct?" Instead of speaking Alice simply nodded and smiled.

"Well he's been expecting you love, go right in." Tabatha sat down at her desk and smiled cheerfully. When Alice didn't move she gestured to the door.

"Right, sorry." She took a deep breath and faced the door. _Should I knock or just barge in?_ Alice wondered as she stared at the beautifully finished wood door in front of her. With a smirk on her lips she reached for the handle and opened the door.

There he sat at his expensive desk, in an overly sized leather chair. He looked more like a king then a man, more like a Greek god then a king. He was bent over his laptop typing furiously away. At the sound of her entrance he simply paused, then continued typing without glancing up.

"I thought I told you I wasn't to be interrupted," he snarled.

Alice shrank back at the harsh tone Kaiba was using, rethinking her choice to barge in on him rather than knock. She opened her mouth to say something, but no words formed on her lips. Even if she had been able to speak, she had no idea what she would have said.

"Tabatha, if you are going to just stand there like an imbecile and not…" Kaiba looked up and saw Alice standing in the doorway gaping at him. "Well, well," he said mockingly, "Nice to see you Alice, come in. Shut the door Tabatha." He instructed in a louder tone.

The door closed behind Alice as she uncertainly took a step farther into his office. She looked around the room in astonishment of how furnished it was. There was a large, black leather armchair next to a book shelf. He also had a matching couch next to a mini-fridge, and three chairs across from his desk that didn't look nearly as comfortable.

"Well don't just stand there with your mouth hanging open, have a seat." Kaiba said as he gestured to the uncomfortable chairs in front of him.

Alice shook her head slightly and approached his desk. Instead of taking a seat she simply stood before him and smiled. "I–"

"Mr. Kaiba," Tabatha's voice came from a silver box on Kaiba's desk.

Kaiba's jaw clenched, he pressed the button on top and replied icily, "Yes?"

"I just wanted to inform you that I will be leaving for the day."

"Thank you, Tabatha." He replied harshly. Exhaling he turned his gaze back on Alice who was still standing in front of his desk. "Take a seat," he repeated.

"You should really work on your people skills Kaiba, it's a wonder that woman still works for you." Alice said as she smiled down at him.

"Fine. Sit, please." He added grudgingly.

"Much better, however I came simply to return your jacket," she laid the jacket across one of the chairs beside her, "And to pass on my friend's complements on how nice it is. Now that that's finished I'll be on my way."

Kaiba chuckled, _she just passed along a message from my own brother._ "But we haven't discussed your dream."

Alice stopped in her tracks, "What dream?"

Standing from his desk he walked around to where Alice stood, "The one you had about me two nights ago." He smirked down at her and licked his lips playfully.

She could feel her face heating up from the accusation, "I _did not _dream about you any night!"

"I disagree," he said as he took a step closer to her, closing the distance between them. "I think you dream about me every night, doll."

"And what makes you think that?" Alice asked stubbornly, her face still very much red.

Kaiba smiled an evil smile, "When I took you home Friday night, you mumbled my name in your sleep." He took his hand and brushed the bangs out of her face.

"I… I did not… I couldn't have." Alice mumbled, her eyes wide with shock.

"You did, and it was oh so clear too. 'Seto', you said, 'Seto I need you with me. Don't leave me, Seto!'" Kaiba said impersonating Alice.

"Now I know you're making this up," she sneered as she hit Kaiba's hand away from her face. "I would never lie in a dream."

"Ouch, that stung a little." Kaiba said as he clutched his chest in mock pain.

"Good, I hope it did." Alice crossed her arms over her chest. "I think I'll leave now."

"Well then let me walk you out," Kaiba offered as he placed his hand on the small of Alice's back and guided her towards the door.

"Since when have you been chivalrous, Kaiba?" Alice asked, clearly surprised.

He chuckled and replied, "I always have been, you've just been too caught up in my good looks to notice."

As they approached the elevator Kaiba's hand slid down from her back to her butt, causing her to yelp and skirt away from him.

"What in Obelisk's name do you think you're doing!?" She shouted at him.

Kaiba's face was expressionless. "What are you talking about?"

"Ugh, I can not believe you!" Alice slammed the elevator button with her index finger then winced at the pain it caused her. "Ouch," she breathed as she held her finger in her other hand.

"Let me see," Kaiba said as he took her injured finger in his hand and examined it. He turned it over, "You'll be fine," and then he gently kissed it.

Alice's mouth fell open in shock as she stared up at Kaiba. _Did he just kiss my finger? And what's with that look on his face he looks..._ Alice's thoughts trailed off as she stared into Seto's ice blue eyes. Her breathing sped and she felt her back press against the elevator door. He began to bend his head down to her level, his eyes never leaving hers. As he leaned closer in the elevator doors opened and Alice stumbled backward. Instinctively Seto reached out and pulled her into his chest, crushing her against him.

While catching her breath she looked up at him in wonder. Never would she have expected him to catch her, never. It looked as if she would just have to expect the unexpected from now on. "Thank you," she breathed.

"Yeah," he grunted as he let go of her and stepped into the elevator. She stood there for a moment, stunned until he asked, "Are you coming or not?"

Reluctantly she got into the elevator with him and the doors closed. He hadn't pushed the button yet so she reached across him and hit it. Kaiba didn't even seem to realize what was going on around him until the elevator shuttered.

"What was that?" Alice asked as she looked around.

"It's nothing, probably just the power being faulty." Sure enough the elevator started its slow decent. "See, nothing to–"

The elevator stopped moving, Alice looked up at Kaiba, worry evident on her face. The elevator began to shutter again and Alice grabbed Kaiba's hand. The shaking stopped almost immediately, leaving the pair hand in hand.

"If you wanted to hold my hand Porter, all you had to do was ask."

Alice dropped his hand quickly, took a step towards him, squared her shoulders and said, "Never, in all my life have I met anyone as obnoxious and self-absorbed as you! And I… I…" During her speech the lights began to flicker and then shut off completely. Alice whimpered. "K..Ka..Kaiba?"

"I'm still here." He said in a bored tone as he reached out to take her hand again. Just as he grasped her small hand there was a shriek of metal and the elevator began plummeting down. Alice clung to him for dear life and he held her in his arms as they fell with frightening speed. The elevator jolted to a stop. Something shattered. Obviously they still on the upper levels because there was no crashing sound or feeling. But the force of the stop caused both of them to fall to the floor, entangled together.

Kaiba was breathing hard as he opened his eyes staring at the dark ceiling. He could feel Alice's small and warm body on top of him. He groaned. His head felt as if it had been hit by a sledgehammer.

"Alice?" he asked as he stroked her arm. "Alice, can you hear me?" Still no reply came from the lifeless girl on top of him. "Alice, answer me, please." He pleaded as he took his hand and brushed the hair out of her face… only to have his hand come away wet. His hand shook in front of him as he realized it was blood… Alice's blood.

[_A/N: To be continued…Bam bam BAAAAMMM!_]


	14. Pitch Black

[_A/N: I'm sorry if the "To be continued" made y'all think I wasn't going to write anymore. It just takes really long to write this wonderful story. Now on with that story ^_^_]

***Disclaimer*** (Roses are red, Violets are blue, I don't own "Yu-Gi-Oh!", and neither do you. lol, cute huh n_n)

**Chapter 14 – Pitch Black**

The elevator's only source of illumination was that of a yellow backup light directly above the elevator door entrance. It gave off just enough light that Kaiba could see Alice's angelic face and the dark sticky liquid that streamed down from her hairline. Kaiba held his breath to listen for her heartbeat. He could feel the warmth emitting from her body which was still firmly pressed against his torso.

As gently as he could he moved her off of him and onto the floor. His thoughts were in a snarl as he bent over her, wondering how he could possibly help.

Kaiba took his hand, which was still shaking, and lightly probed her scalp in an attempt to stop the bleeding. He knew when he had found the source of it because she bolted upright and let out a shrill cry. His eyes widened at the sound of her tortured scream. He had been certain she was unconscious. Fumbling with his thoughts he forced her back down so her shoulders were pressed firmly to the pitch black floor. Her back arched in an disturbing way, her screaming intensified. She had her petite hands balled into fists that were attempting to grip the ground for support.

"Alice," Seto said hoarsely. He felt as if his ears were melting off his head and he wanted to rip his eyes out. No one should have to witness, let alone endure this level of pain.

"Alice, Alice, Alice," he mumbled as he attempted to calm her. The screams coming from her pierced right through him like a spear and he was certain he was about to lose his mind.

"Alice stop!" Kaiba shouted, placing one hand firmly on her arm and the other on her cheek.

Her body continued to shake but her screams subsided into whimpers and eventually silence. Kaiba listened to her ragged breathing for a moment more before speaking again.

"Can you hear me?" He questioned in a sharp voice as he stared at her closed eyes.

Her teeth chattered as she opened her mouth and hissed "Yesss." If it was possible her eyes closed even tighter as she took deep shaky breaths.

She sounded furious, but she was alive so he chuckled in relief. _I thought I had lost you, _Seto thought bemused as he loosened his grip on her arm and stroked her cheek. Emerald eyes fluttered open in surprise. Their eyes connected and as Alice stared deeply into his glorious sapphire irises her breathing became less urgent. She was relaxing under his hand and penetrating gaze. He watched as her chest slowed from its frantic pace.

_Her eyes are like a wild fire. It's like they're burning right through me. Emerald flames flickering and shimmering right before me… so warm. _Seto's thoughts trailed off as he unconsciously caressed her skin. Her eyes smoldered in the dim light as she gazed up at him. They stayed like this for a while until Alice reluctantly broke the silence.

"My head." She croaked, trying to remind Kaiba what was happening around them.

He chuckled darkly; _did I really forget that easily?_ "I was letting you ogle at me," he gave her a cocky smile. "It seemed to make you feel better."

Seto continued to caress her cheek as her eyes hardened and the flames in them moved dangerously. Alice narrowed them as she answered in a firm but small voice, "Get on with it."

Smirking he pulled his hand away from her now flushed cheeks. He moved his hand back up to the edge of her hairline where he had found the sore spot. He slid her glistening hair out of her face and away from the wound.

"I'm going to need you to be very still, this would have been easier if you had stayed unconscious." Kaiba confessed as he examined her head.

"I'll be fine, just get it done." Alice said in a monotone voice as she closed her eyes tightly.

"Alright…" Kaiba muttered under his breath.

The cut on her forehead was fairly deep, with shards of broken glass protruding from it. Kaiba looked up, searching for where the glass had come from when he noticed the light above them had shattered. _Of all the luck, _he thought dryly.

Kaiba sat for a time contemplating what he should do. Obviously he wasn't the heroic prince type who rips their clothes off to bandage the damsel's wounds; he was wearing a very expensive dress shirt, tie, and slacks along with one of his trench coats, this one was a dark blue. Ripping through those clothes would be impossible; even if he could the shirt was one of his favorites. _So how to proceed, _he wondered methodically as he loosened his tie around his neck… _my tie!_ Kaiba was suddenly grateful he had worn it to work today. As he began to take it off he noticed Alice was starting to squirm a bit and he looked at her questioningly.

Her eyes were still closed and her fists still balled in fists, she looked to be in intense pain, more so then that of just a cut. The screams she had uttered had also hinted at something more painful as well. "Are you alright," Kaiba questioned as he gazed down at her.

Alice's reply came in a voice he didn't recognize. It was much lower but still very much feminine, as well as completely devoid of emotion.**"I'm bleeding you insignificant little man. Either fix me or shut u**hh!" She gasped the last syllable and her eyes flew open. Kaiba stared down at her confused until she continued. "Sorry, this just really hurts." She said lamely in her usual tone. She then proceeded to look curious as she saw Kaiba's tie in his hand, "Why are you taking off your clothes?"

Kaiba chuckled as he unbuttoned the top two buttons on his shirt and leaned over Alice, "I was getting something to stop you from bleeding out, but if you want me to I could always continue." He stared down at her as he readied himself for the coming insult; he was astonished when she instead giggled. _She must have lost more blood then I thought. Either that or she really has fallen for me, _he thought smugly as he moved the hair that had fallen in her face again.

"Hold still," he instructed. Alice nodded mutely then proceeded to close her eyes once more. As gently as humanly possible he began to remove the glass from her forehead, if she was lucky she wouldn't even have a scar. "You sure are bleeding a lot," Kaiba stated matter-of-factly.

"Head wounds do tend to bleed more," Alice whispered.

That worried him, why was she whispering? Was she really in that much pain or was she just tired? He told her to sit up when he was finished so he could tie the tie around her head. She complied and he knelt behind her to place the tie around her head. Alice moved her hair around so it was out of the way; apparently she wanted it to where it was less visible. He positioned it under her bangs and brought it to the base of her skull, his hands brushing her neck as he tied it. His eyes wandered over her slim neck that flowed flawlessly down into her gray sweater.

She looked very elegant, though she was wearing simple blue jeans and a shirt. He wondered idly as he stared at her neck what she would look like in a dress… _or a bikini_ and had to suppress a groan. Redirecting his thoughts he moved out from behind her and sat against one of the elevator walls. He should be focusing on how to get them out of here.

As if she had read his mind, "So how are we going to get out of here?" She questioned as she wrapped her arms tightly around her legs. Kaiba leaned his head back against the cool metal wall and groaned.

"Honestly Porter, I have no idea and if that's not enough to worry you…" he trailed off as he closed his eyes.

There was a moment of utter silence and Alice wondered if Kaiba had fallen asleep. Her curiosity got the better of her. "Kaiba?"

His response came a moment later, gruff and low, "What, Porter?" Alice rubbed her arms as chills formed down them; _from the cold! _she thought sternly. But her thoughts faltered and she became unconvinced, so she chickened out.

"It's really dark." She said lamely.

He chuckled, "What's wrong, Porter? Scared of the dark are we?"

The grip she held on her legs increased, nails digging into the soft flesh. "Of course not!" she said indignantly. Almost as if she couldn't control it she added, "Not the dark, never the dark. I'm scared of the things that hide in..in the Shadows." She tried to ignore the way Kaiba's breathing changed. She chanced a look at him and saw his eyes were still shut. She didn't know what was making her say these things. "It's pitch black in here, like my soul." She hadn't meant for it to sound so morbid. Giggling, she attempted to make it seem like a joke. The she sighed, she should have just asked her original question instead of making a fool of herself.

"Are you going to tell me what you really wanted to say?"

She looked over at him, surprised he had noticed something so small. He looked as if he were asleep, as if he had spoken to her in his sleep. But she knew from the way his jaw was set and the tension of his crossed arms that it wasn't the case.

"I was just wondering…" she trailed off uncertainly as she looked at his perfect face, so peaceful. When he didn't make a rude comment she continued, "I was just wondering why you call me Porter."

"It is your name you know." Kaiba commented sarcastically, opening his eyes lazily to look her over.

"Well, yes, but you switch from calling me 'Alice' one minute to 'Porter' the next." She said as she leaned closer to hear Kaiba's response.

"Is there a problem with me calling you Porter? As I recall that _is_ your name." He sounded amused by the idea of repeating himself.

"My _last_ name," she replied icily.  
"It's a name none the less." He stated simply.  
"It just seems rude–"  
"You call me by my last name." Kaiba readily retorted.  
"That's because you prefer it." Alice snapped.  
"I never said that."  
"You didn't have to say it, I just assumed–"  
"Well you assumed wrong."  
"So you're saying you want me to call you Seto?"

"Exactly."

The injured brunette was growing colder by the minute as she sat on the frigid floor. She shuddered and squeezed her eyes tightly shut. A strange feeling prickled in her eyes, so she gingerly touched one of them. _I'm crying? _Alice thought in astonishment as she wiped the falling tears away quickly. _It's just because I'm hurt and I have to fight __**her**__ off at the same time. It has nothing to do with Seto… damn it! Kaiba, not wanting me to call him Seto,_ she finished glumly. Then added bitterly, _not that I care. It's just Kaiba, stupid egotistical Kaiba. I don't care what he thinks. Not even… a little bit._She sighed.

"Porter?" Kaiba asked quietly.

_Oh sweet Slifer! Why does he have to do this to me? What does he… he saw me crying. Not good. Very, super, omega not good. Think of an excuse fast… come on brain work! … How is it I can do integration by parts and binomial theorem and think it's simple then try to talk to a boy and I hit a brick wall? __**But he isn't just a boy is he, Alice? **__Shut up! Shut up, shut up!_ The entire time Alice was having this little argument with herself her eyes remained closed and her face impassive.

"Alice?" Kaiba asked again. She could almost hear the smirk in his voice as she twitched. Why does he have to go and start calling her Alice again… even though a minute ago she was angry with him for calling her Porter. She considered pretending to be asleep, but she knew her twitch must have given her away already.

Grudgingly she responded. "Yes?"

"Oh… nothing. I was just making sure you were still awake." Kaiba explained as he stood from the elevator wall and began to pace.

Alice looked at him questioningly, "I'm not allowed to sleep? I'm cold and injured, and I can't sleep?"

Kaiba stopped in front of her, "Quite simply, yes. Hold on a minute."

Pulling his trench coat off Kaiba's infamous smirk returned to grace his pristine face as he turned the coat over. He located the object of his search, a silver devise in the shape of 'KC' on his coat's collar. As he pried it off he tossed the coat aside where it landed with a plop onto Alice's lap. Kaiba twirled the KC emblem between his forefingers, a smile playing on his lips.

"And what is that?" Alice inquired as she squinted at the shining, silver devise.

"This, oh this is our ticket out of here." Kaiba said arrogantly as he pressed it.

"Yes, Mr. Kaiba?" A male voice responded from the KC emblem. Alice raised her eyebrows in disbelief, impressed. She noted that Kaiba's smile grew more prominent, obviously loving her reaction.

"Roland. Perhaps you haven't noticed but I'm currently stuck in the Kaiba Corp. elevator."

"Stuck? In the elevator? At Kaiba Corp?" Roland responded sounding utterly confused. Alice suppressed a fit of giggles as Kaiba's smile was wiped off his face. He turned away from her as he spoke again.

"Yes." He said sharply, losing his patience. "Fix it. Now."

"Right away, sir!"

Kaiba turned back to Alice triumphantly, "Problem solved. You can stop complaining now," he added as he looked down at her in satisfaction.

Alice rolled her eyes heavenward and said, "I was not complaining, simply pointing out the obvious. If I hadn't said anything about the cold you wouldn't have taken off your trench coat." She was testing her theory, almost sure she was right. _He only realized the KC thing was on his jacket after he took it off, and the only reason he took it off was to give it to me. _Alice smiled inwardly and added, _for some reason he is unconsciously nice… makes up for his cold attitude._

To her disappointment Kaiba looked at her questionably and said harshly, "I didn't take my coat off because you commented on the temperature; I took it off to use my communicator." He looked down at her as if he thought she was an idiot. "Did you honestly think I took off my coat to give it to you?" Kaiba scoffed as dark humor colored his tone.

She knotted her hands into fists around his coat, grinding her teeth together. _I hate it when he talks to me like I'm a child, like I– _She couldn't finish the thought but the words were there in a different tone, _**disgust him. **_That other voice, it sounded so different. Normally she could hear the arrogance in it, feel her power in it. But it didn't sound that way now, it sounded soft and sympathetic, almost caring. Alice didn't respond to Kaiba, not granting him the satisfaction of an answer. Instead she pulled the trench coat sitting in her lap up around her and looked pointedly away from him.

So wrapped up in her anger she missed Seto's tender smile as he looked her over. Her cheeks were flushed, eyes had hardened, and she was looking away; _got you. _"Well?" he asked, voice still hard and demanding.

"Just go find some place over there to sit down." Alice demanded as she pointed to the wall furthest away from her with a humph.

Kaiba chuckled as he walked to the wall right next to Alice and slid down it. He was now sitting close enough to touch her, only an inch between their bodies.

Staring at him in shock, her mouth slightly ajar, she managed a semi-coherent sentence, "I s..said go find a place to sit down, _over there_." For some reason she thought repeating her words in a different order would make them clearer.

"But that's why I had to sit here, because you don't want me here." He explained smirking.

"Kaiba–" she began.

"Call me Seto."

She shook her head slowly and said with a shaky voice, "I will, I will not. Go sit over there please."

Grinning at her Kaiba closed the small space between their bodies and whispered in her ear, "But it's sooo much warmer over here." Alice gave an involuntary shiver, her eyes widened, and she gulped loudly. He continued because it didn't seem that she could manage a response. "Alice, such a beautiful name. It suits you wonderfully," he purred as he blew warm air along her neck. If possible her eyes grew even wider. "Lovely, so very lovely," he continued, waiting for her to collect her thoughts.

"K… Kaiba, stop–" she tried again.

"My name is Seto, Alice." He informed her suavely.

"Yess, but…" she seemed to gain some confidence as she continued, "But you don't really want me to call you that… you're just, just teasing me." Alice finished with a sigh.

"Am I?" Kaiba asked with a chuckle. "I don't think you quite unde–"

Alice cut him off, "Please, just stop. I can't do this right now." She was speaking in clipped sentence. "I'm just tired, really really… real tired." The last two words came out as barely a whisper.

"Tired?" Kaiba asked in different tone, though what kind of tone she couldn't tell, "Are you alright?" He demanded.

_He's just worried I'll pass out on him, he doesn't actually care__. _Alice thought miserably. "It's not because of my head injury. Promise. I'm just exhausted," she yawned, emphasizing the point as she shook from the cold. Even with Kaiba's trench coat as a blanket she was still far from warm. With a humble smile she added, "So I'm letting you win."

"You're letting me win? I wasn't under the impression we were playing a game." Kaiba replied bemused by her statement.

"For you, everything seems to be a game, Kaiba. Honestly I don't know when you're being serious or when you're umm," she cleared her throat and blushed furiously, "Teasing me."

"I don't think this is a game," Seto said so quietly she wasn't sure she heard him right, but he continued louder. "I really do want you to call me Seto, desperately. When it comes to you, Alice, I'm always serious." He spoke with such vigor and conviction that she found it hard to doubt his words.

For once Alice Porter was speechless. Surprising her more, Seto gave a small but very real smile. Her heart pounded painfully in her chest, she wanted to place her hand on his cheek, as she had only done twice before. She wanted to make that heartbreakingly beautiful smile stay on his face, wanted him to be comfortable around her, wanted him to trust her. More than anything she wanted what he said to be true. Searching his eyes for some reassurance she gasped as she noticed how different his eyes looked. The glacier color and hardness had faded making his eyes shimmer, like the tides of an ocean. His defenses were down, all walls and masks he presented to the world to protect himself were gone, and what was left made her smile. She found one thought in her head, one thought only; _Seto_

As she tried to assemble some response to him Seto continued, like the gates of a dam finally opening to a torrent of water. "I don't know what it is about you, you're just so different from everyone I've ever met," he chuckled lightly, the sound making Alice nearly melt next to him. "Granted; you whine more then I can stand, your friends are the bane of my existence, and you can't duel. You're so soft-spoken yet highly opinionated, you're insanely nice yet you have a temper that would put a demon to shame, but you refuse to fight back when it matters! You infuriate me!" he said sharply, but the warmth in his eyes was still there as he sighed in relief, because he'd wanted to say that for a long time. "You fascinate me."

Alice couldn't think of a reasonable thing to say, so she joked. "You're making me sound like a goddess, but at the same time you're calling me the devil." She giggled, _it's so obvious he's just delirious from the fall; he can't possibly know what he's saying._

"Sometimes I think you're two people," he admitted as he raised an eyebrow, daring her to deny him.

She shook her head very slowly, not denying his words but in amusement. Alice couldn't believe he had seen through her ruse; that he saw exactly what was going on. Opening her mouth to confirm his suspicions she was stunned when he cut her off before she uttered a single syllable.

"You don't have to say anything yet, just know that… know that I want to know." She could tell he had wanted to finish his sentence differently, but that ending sounded more like Kaiba to her.

Alice stared at him for a moment, contemplating the pros and cons of revealing everything… she had almost decided when her eyes began to droop shut while looking at him. Blinking rapidly to dispel her exhaustion she saw Seto give her another real and rare smile.

"Go to sleep, you look like the living dead." His smile turning to a smirk, but not the trademark, arrogant, evil one; no this one was sweet but held an amused edge.

Knowing it was true she gave him a weak nod as her eyes closed rapidly and she lowered her head in defeat. To her surprise she felt Seto's arm go around her shoulder, the surprise gave her enough energy to look up. Alice stared at Seto, questions written all over her face.

"Oh just shut up and get some sleep." He said, but Alice could almost hear the laughter in his voice, the amusement.

_He must think I'm a pretty weird girl, _Alice yawned again. _Ah well. He is amazingly warm, _she hide a smile as she turned on her side and pressed her body into his, relishing in the shear heat of him. Placing her hands on his chest she said a quietly, "Thank you," then a moment's pause she added a sighed "Seto."

He smiled down at her with a surprised but pleased expression, _she actually called me Seto. _He looked down at her peaceful face, she already looked asleep but he would wait until he was sure to move at all. There were a few strands of hair that were falling across her face, and he was just itching to brush them back. Kaiba was slightly annoyed with her, but more so with himself. What had possessed him to say the things he had? Of course they had been true, but too much truth would send her running away from him. Seto unconsciously held her tighter against him, he didn't want that but nor did he want her too close. There had to be some balance between the two; between truth and lies, and for some reason he thought after that, _between light and shadows._

He didn't know specifically how long they had been stuck in this godforsaken elevator, but he did know it had been hours. He contemplated all the different people he could blame for this and fire, but he was broken from his thoughts several minutes later by Alice.

"Seto," she mumbled. He smirked as he looked at her and saw her eyes were still closed. He had been hoping this would happen; it was part of why he had insisted she sleep. It was just too tempting to resist.

"I'm here, Alice." He whispered into her ear. Seto was pleased when her hand that was laid across his chest clutched, as if trying to hold him there.

"Don't… don't leave." Alice sighed, warm air passing over his face.

This puzzled him, "Why would I leave?"

"The Shadows…"

_The Shadows?_ Seto thought confused. That was all she had said, _why that would have anything to do – Aeris is Alice, no Alice is Aeris. Of course the warning! How could I forget something like that? But wait – _"Alice, are you… involved with the Shadows?"

"Mhmm… but not… I'manot bad?"

Seto looked down at her confused. _Is she asking me if she's bad? What is going on?_ "I don't think you're bad," he said as he put a hand on the back of her head, stroking her hair.

**"I will defeat them."** Seto froze, his body growing rigid. Alice spoke with that different voice, a voice he'd heard her use only once earlier, when she was in pain. It was so sharp that he was almost sure she had awoken.

"Alice?" He questioned softly, not sure he wanted her to respond. Holding his breath he waited.

"Pink… ice cream… hmm, polyester." She mumbled incoherently.

Seto let out the breath he had been holding in a sigh of relief, _she's still asleep._ He gave her another smile, _she dreams of the silliest things._ Fighting the urge to laugh he settled himself farther down the wall. All of Alice's sleep talk, mumbling, and stupidly cute sighs had him feeling suddenly tired. He wrapped his arms around her slim figure and drifted–

_~~~DFAD~~~_

"Mr. Kaiba... Mr. Kaiba… Mr. Kaiba!"

Alice groaned and attempted to roll over but was stopped by a pair of strong arms that were gently wrapped around her. She could feel the warm breathing of someone on the top of her head, could feel the heat of their body, _I'm practically on top of them!_Then she inhaled and a sudden calm filled her, she knew that smell, it was so uniquely his; _soap, expensive cologne, and roses? Huh how odd, he doesn't seem like the flower type._She was pulled back to her senses by a voice that was almost screaming at her, well not her but at Seto.

"Mr. Kaiba, please respond!" The voice sounded very worried.

Trying to get a grip on reality she pushed against his chest and was relieved when his arms fell away and she rolled to the side. Looking around in bewilderment she looked for the source of the voice in the darkness and found it was coming from that KC emblem thing. Bending down she attentively picked it up and bit her lower lip, _should I respond?_Alice looked over at Seto, still asleep and slumped against the wall.

"Um, Seto's sort of asleep I'm afraid." Alice mentally slapped herself for calling him Seto to this man, he probably worked for him.

"Oh. Well," he was obviously shocked and coughed pointedly, "By any chance could you wake Mr. Kaiba?"

_Yep, Mr. Kaiba. What a disaster, _Alice thought with an embarrassed sigh. She flashed Seto another quick glance, but he looked too peaceful for her to want to disturb him. "I'd rather not," she admitted smiling as she knelt down next to him.

To her surprise the man on the other end chuckled, "I understand completely ma'am."

"Alice, call me Alice please," she corrected him politely as she brushed some of Seto's hair out of his eyes with a timid hand.

"Yes ma… Alice. My name is Roland, and I'm Mr. Kaiba's assistant of sorts."

_Assistant?_ She giggled, _he probably means body guard or chauffer; he might even do anything Seto asked. He seems nice,_ she thought kindly as she replied, "I understand."

"Good. Now Alice, the elevator will be powered up momentarily. It might start shaking but I just wanted to warn you it was coming, you're going to be fine, be out of there in no time." Roland said reassuringly.

"Thank you, Roland."

"Ma'am." Alice rolled her eyes at his kneejerk response and placed the KC emblem on the ground so she could wake Seto.

She debated all the different ways she could wake him and decided on the one she liked best. She stretched first, rolling her head around in slow circles to relieve the pains in her neck. Alice took the trench coat that had fallen to the floor and laid it carefully over Seto as she leaned over him, grinning mischievously.

"Seto," she whispered into his ear. "Oh Seto," she said again a little louder, loving the way his face moved and looked as if he were going to smile.

"Hmm?" Was his only response.

"Finally," Alice said as she rolled to her feet to stand above him. "I thought you'd _never _wake up."

Seto took a hand and ran it through his tousled hair, "Finally? How long was I asleep?" His voice was gruff and gave Alice chills as she stared down at his eyes as the opened.

"Oh a couple of hours, the snoring was almost too much for me to handle." She smirked as he sat up right and openly glared at her.

"I do not snore." He responded curtly.

"Sure you don't, Mr. C-E-O," she said as she rolled her eyes playfully and gave each letter its own syllable.

The trench coat fell to the ground as he stood; towering over her he replied with a cocky grin, "You on the other hand, well let's just say I'm surprised I was able to fall asleep." He pulled the trench coat off the floor and put it back on, readying himself for her retort.

Alice was about to snap at him when the elevator began to shake. It was obvious the power was back on when the number above the buttons lit up; 16. _So we fell twelve floors. That's a scary thought._

"I'm shocked you didn't throw yourself at me when the elevator moved," Kaiba said slyly.

"I don't throw myself at you! Why must you be so pompous and arrogant?" She yelled as she stomped her foot.

"Why must you constantly ask questions?" He screamed back.  
"Don't you answer my question with a question, have you no manners."  
"Maybe I don't," Kaiba replied icily as he took a step toward her.  
"Obviously not." Alice said as she stepped toward him.  
"I might not have manners but at least I can keep my balance."  
"I have no problem keeping my balance around NORMAL people."  
"I somehow doubt that."  
"I could care less what you doubt! It's this elevator that's messing with me."  
"Sure, blame it on the elevator."  
"It is! If it hadn't been for the elevator I wouldn't have gotten hurt!"  
"That had nothing to do with–"  
"Don't even try to say it had nothing to do with it! If these elevators had emergency kits–"  
"Would you stop being so annoying–"  
"Annoying!?" She yelled in outrage, "Hardly. I think you've got something stuck in your ears–"  
Kaiba cut her off, "If I had something stuck in my ears I wouldn't have to listen to you."

Alice opened her mouth to retaliate but no words came to her. Instead she glared up at him furiously.

Their bodies were very close, having approached each other in the heat of the moment. Both brunettes were panting heavily from the shouting, each with a different fire burning in their eyes as they looked at the other. The elevator gave a final jerk; causing Alice to fall into Seto, and then it began its slow decent. She pushed off of him, trying to right herself, but instead of letting go Seto wrapped his arms around her waist. _I don't need this! I really don't need him messing with my thought process like this._ There was still no light in the elevator, but both were shocked when music began to fill the elevator.

"_L, is for the way you look, at me.  
O, is for the only one, I see."_

Nat King Cole's song filled the elevator as Alice looked at Seto with wide horrified eyes, and he looked down at her with a similar expression. As if they were hurting each other physically they jumped apart, both nearly falling over. Alice put her hands over her face and turned away from him to hide her blush. Kaiba stared pointedly at the elevator doors, willing them to move faster. For the two of them the ride seemed to last an agenizing eternity, for those waiting outside the elevator for them it took mere moments.

When the doors opened Kaiba set off at a quick pace, leaving Alice behind. Stumbling a little she left the elevator to find Sofia, Kaiba, and who she assumed to be Roland waiting. As she approached she heard the end of Roland's explanation.

"…could to get it running and apologize it took awhile."

Kaiba glared murderously at Roland, her heart went out to him. "_Awhile_ would have been a few hours Roland. _Awhile_ is not _seven_ hours."

"Yes sir. You're limousine is waiting out front," Roland said as he glanced at Sofia and Alice.

"Finally something done right," he said as he abruptly walked past them and out the doors without so much as a goodbye.

Alice had a look of twisted hurt and anger plastered on her face as she watched him walk off.

"He doesn't mean any of it," Roland said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. "He's just having–"

"A bad day?" Sofia finished with a smile. He nodded and Alice piqued in.

"Aren't we all Roland?"

They stood in silence for a moment each thinking of different problems and trials until Roland spoke. "Well I best be off, ladies." He said with a nod before following Kaiba out the doors.

"Shall we go as well bambino?" Sofia asked as she rumpled Alice's hair in a motherly way.

"Yes, I could use some rest." Alice said as she hugged Sofia and they walked toward the door together.

"I don't doubt that at all my dear." Sofia opened the door to her car and Alice claimed in, ready to be home.

But she couldn't help but feel like she had forgotten something, something rather important, something very unpleasant. And as Sofia started the car and began driving along the road and away from the sleeping city she remembered her duty. Two words, leaking through her thoughts and possessing her mind; _**the Shadows.**_

[_A/N: Like it? Love it? Let me know! I have to thank my friend Lizzie for helping with this one, without her I would have never known what Seto should use to bandage Alice's wound. Who knew elevators don't have emergency kits, they really should. Oh and another thing ;) HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVEN GLORE! lol, please review people!_


	15. The Shadow's Shadow

[_A/N: I HATE WRITERS BLOCK! But I love new chapters! Don't you? I wonder how this one will be ;)_ ]

***Disclaimer*** (I own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" I'm also proud to say I own a nice white jacket that lets me hug myself… I can never get this dang thing off either. Typing sure is a hassle xD)

**Chapter 15 – The Shadow's Shadow**

She didn't know what to say as Sofia drove her back to the Porter Estate. Nothing logical or conversational was able to escape her lips, so they stayed pressed together in a thin line. The most she had managed was a "fine" when Sofia asked her if she was alright. In the silence, Alice attempted to sort out everything that had occurred in the past seven hours. The scent of roses and _his _cologne still lingered with her, and thoughts of how close she had been to kissing Seto set her mind spiraling out of control. She was stunned when her house suddenly materialized out of the darkness and she jumped when Sofia's voice pierced the silent air.

"Vould you like me to stay ze night with you, il mio amore?" Sofia asked kindly as the car rolled to a stop.

"Oh, no thank you Sofia, you can go home to your husband. Don't let me keep you away," Alice said with a sheepish smile. She prayed she had sounded convincing and was relieved when Sofia gave her a last look of reproach before driving away into the night.

Sighing and letting her shoulders slump down in exhaustion, Alice slowly walked up the black rock slabs that led to her front door. She grasped the handle firmly and turned, not bothering to be quiet because there wasn't a soul for her to wake. She shut the door behind her and made her way through the dark hallway and into the living room. She stood there, doing what she always did; she looked first at the picture laying flat on the coffee table, then to the portrait that hung above her fireplace. Shaking her head she left the room and headed up stairs to take a shower.

Her room was just another room to her. It had four black walls, no windows, silver carpet, and three doors. One door Alice had just walked through, one that led out to a balcony overlooking her front yard, and the last was the one she intended to take. With careful fingers, she removed the now ruined tie from her forehead and glanced in a mirror at the damage. _It just looks bad because of the blood, _she thought quickly and distracted herself by making a mental note to replace Seto's tie. Quickly she slipped out of her sneakers and peeled off her socks. Her carpet was soft under her tired feet and as she moved through the doorframe leading to her bathroom, she fought the urge to slump to the floor.

Spending that much time in an elevator, _with Seto Kaiba_, wasn't exactly a relaxing experience. Alice had been worked up and dying to escape the entire time… but now, why was it she wished she were back there? She stepped into the hot shower water mulling over how she couldn't remember undressing. _I run on autopilot most days now, _she mused. Things had changed drastically and so quickly she was still rather confused. Words were bouncing around her head at a million miles an hour, words she assumed to be random and that had no context mainly because she was afraid if she dwelled on them she would understand the connection. _Roses, music, dark, shattered, tie, lake, sand, home, wind, elevator, book, chair, tree, computer, library, office, jacket, rain, boots, clock, car, steps…_ Her 'random' thoughts went on and on until a voice broke the flow of them.

"_**You know the meaning behind these words child." **_Alice froze as _**that**_ voice spoke clearly through the sound of the shower. She wanted to growl or groan, _I hoped she would just go away. This is insane… I'm hearing voices for heaven's sake!_

_**"****Voices? I only have one voice," **_she pointed out with a hint of amusement; the arrogance and power was back with no trace of sympathy.

Alice had been desperately praying that if she refused to acknowledge the voice it would eventually leave her. _Without naming this voice its strength will wane and this curse will go, _Alice thought as she ran her fingers through her now soaked hair.

_**"I would hope that by now you are aware that I can hear you," **_the voice told her, the hint of amusement still present.

_This is just so wrong, will this woman ever go away! _Alice thought in distress.

_**"You know my name, I know you do. Say it."**_

Alice chose to ignore her, she still found the concept of a voice speaking to her from seemly nowhere crazy.

_**"I could present myself if you wish," **_she stated kindly.

"No!" Alice shrieked out, causing the shampoo bottle in her hand to clatter to the tiles under her feet. She stared wide-eyed as the strawberry shampoo spilled across the white tiles, the red-pink color staring back at her as it washed down the drain. She should pick up the bottle before she had no shampoo left, but she was in shock. Without meaning to she had finally acknowledged the woman. _AND OUT LOUD!_ she thought in dismay.

_**"****Humans are so strange these days… I pity you child, I truly do." **_ with that she felt _**her**_ presence slip away as if she were actually alone. Alice waited for the voice to say something else, anything else, but after several minutes of listening for a voice in her head she realized how utterly absurd she was being. Hesitantly, as if movement would cause the voice to return, she picked up her empty shampoo bottle and returned it to its place.

When she got out of the shower and walked into her closet, she glanced uneasily at the thick black cloak hanging to the left of her. It seemed to be calling to her, mocking her troubles and taunting her failures at redemption. While she attempted to shift her gaze away from the black shadow, she remembered her thoughts in the car with Sofia, about her duty… her redemption. With a heavy sigh, she looked to her clock, 4:16am. Far too late to get any sleep, much too early to get ready for school. She knew what to do.

Dressing quickly, Alice examined herself in her floor length mirror, critical of everything she saw. She was wearing all white, without a doubt she would stick out like a candle in a dungeon, but she had no will to change. Her white slacks with a white belt where tucked into white school boots, knee-high and with a rather tall and thin heel. The top she wore was more formfitting than her usual style and she didn't particularly like how much of her stomach and cleavage was exposed, but it was comfortable and that's all that mattered. She did however like the way the color contrasted with her dark hair and light skin, and the way it made her eyes seem brighter. With a self-satisfied smirk, she wrapped a bandage around her irritated looking head wound. Knowing her body like she did it would be healed in a few days without a trace.

Regretfully she pulled on her midnight black cloak and then none of the white mattered, the cloak blocked everything out. It hung loose and big around her shoulders and she knew from experience it would skim the ground when she walked. Not a speck of white from her clothes could be seen through the dark cloak; even her figure was obscured beyond recognition. Leaving the hood down she swept from her room only to sprint back in seconds later to retrieve her school backpack. And with that she sped down the stairs, and out of her house.

"I hate Mondays." Alice grumbled under her breathe as she stood in her driveway debating. She never enjoyed going to the headquarters, especially at night, but what choice did she have really? Reluctantly she opened her garage and picked her vehicle for travel.

Since it was dark hardly anyone she knew would be out, and she was beyond recognition so it didn't matter if she drove one of her flashy cars or her gaudy looking motorcycles. With that in mind she picked the more subtle of her two motorcycles anyway, jet-black. When she first adorned the horrid cloak she now wore she worried about it getting caught in the back wheel of the bike, but after years of experience she had no such worries. Even though, by every right, she should hate the cloak for what it represented she couldn't help but feel like a complete badass as she mounted the bike. She knew that if she put on her white and blue helmet it would throw off the whole aura and she couldn't bring herself to do that, so she simply attached it to the side bag with her backpack and kick started the motorcycle.

As she hurtled down the winding roads that led back to the city she attempted to keep her worries at bay. She couldn't remember the last time she was at the headquarters, a week ago, maybe two, perhaps longer. Even if she didn't remember the day she was there last she sure remembered what happened last time she was there… it wasn't something she enjoyed remembering, the mere thought of her mission gave her an overwhelming sense of shame that seemed impossible to fight away. Gritting her teeth together and leaning forward on her bike she sped past Domino Park and within another ten minutes she slowed to a halt in front of her destination. The headquarters, known publically as Domino Central Medical Facility, was more menacing to her in that moment than in her previous visits. Maybe because she was finally acting against them, working as sort of a double agent, or maybe it was because she'd never really liked hospitals and the whole elevator thing with Seto had put her on edge. She grabbed her backpack and flung it carelessly over her shoulder.

Pushing the doors of the Hospital open roughly, without so much as a glance around, she walked into the waiting room area with her head held high and her eyes distant. She needn't look around because she'd been in this "medical facility" so often that she had the place memorized from the crack in wall above the plastic fern to the middle-aged, redheaded, fool of a woman that sat behind her desk staring right through her.

Once upon a time, Alice had tried to befriend the woman behind the desk but she found out rather quickly that she was just another mindless drone being manipulated by the Shadows. There was no life behind the woman's oddly beautiful gray eyes, no signs that a smile would ever grace her lips again. _Grace, _Alice thought with a sense of remorse, _that had been the woman's name._ She used to imagine how the Master of the Shadows must have tricked her, just as he had done to many before, said something persuasive or threatening… perhaps both. Grace must have resisted though, because she wouldn't be like she was if she had played into his hand. _Like I did, _thought Alice bitterly as she turned right past the main desk and headed toward the service elevator at a quickened pace, fearing the moisture that was steadily impairing her vision.

_**"You had no choice child, you did the right thing."**_ And just like that the voice was back, but this time Alice took comfort in the sound, for when she was in this frightening place she could use the encouragement; just like in the elevator.

"I know… but that doesn't make it any easier." Alice finally sighed breaking her self-proclaimed vow of silence. She bowed her head humbly and wiped away the few tears that had escaped her eyes as the service elevator doors shut. Her earlier admission of hating elevators was brought back to her attention as she reluctantly mashed the B4 button. There was no B1 or B3, or any other basement numbers for that matter, just B4 which made it look like a mistake. Every employee knew there was no basement, because that's exactly what the Master wanted.

"State your name and rank." A cool and clear male voice instructed through the emergency intercom, but she could hear the smirk in the voice because she had heard it so many times before.

"Lucas, if you don't start this blasted elevator right now you're going to lose more than just a few cards." Alice threatened darkly.

The elevator filled with light laughter and as it started its quick decent and she could have sworn she heard something along the lines of "royal fort". Alice knew she had mere seconds before the elevator stopped so with practiced hands she pulled her hair back and the oversized hood over her head. The hood came down to the tip of her nose and casted everything else that wasn't hidden into shadows. Swinging the backpack off her shoulder, she opened it and grabbed two things, and with that the elevator opened revealing another cloaked figure with its hood up as well.

"You know Red, anger really doesn't suit you." He commented as she flung her backpack behind her where it landed in the corner of the elevator. Alice stepped out so she stood in front of the man.

"Luke you hardly know me, how could you possibly know what suits me?" Alice teased as she cocked her head to the side. The man, Lucas or Luke, chuckled deeply as he brought his hands up and pushed his hood back, revealing his features as Alice continued to speak. "More over how is it you always know it's me? And stop calling me Red!" This earned another chuckle from Luke as he ran a hand through his thick golden blonde locks.

"Firstly," he began smugly, "I know what suits you because I'm Luke and I know everything." Alice scoffed but he ignored it. "Secondly," he said looking her up and down, "I know it's you because your voice is very unique, sort of musical I should say and only you could somehow manage to pull off these cliché bathrobes." Alice's complexion darkened at the complement but she rolled her eyes nonetheless. "Not to mention the greatest hint of them all," he gestured to her left hand, "You're carrying your duel disk. Which brings us to thirdly, I will not stop calling you Red because I'm rather found of it myself. You do know why I call you Red?" He looked at her skeptically and when she said nothing he continued, "No? Well because your fans call you Red X, hence the nickname Red. And fourthly… hmmm fourthly, I suppose there isn't a fourthly. That's a funny word fourthly, sorta rolls off the tongue. Fourthly, fourthly, fourthly, see now it doesn't even sound like a word."

"Lucas, why can't you just call me X like everyone else? And I don't think fourthly _is_ a word." Alice said with a huff.

"Because I'm not everyone else and X isn't a name it's a letter." He remarked, sounding offended and then added, "No no, fourthly has to be a word." He then motioned for her to begin walking.

"And why's that?" She asked as she brushed passed him and he fell into step beside her.

"Well I would think it was obvious!" He mocked as he looked down at her fondly. He would never admit it to a soul, but he secretly found her attractive. Ridiculous right? Considering he'd never once seen her face.

"Well _obviously_ not." She shot back as they entered the meeting room.

It was a bland room. With its pale peach walls and speckled gray and white tile floor it reminded her of the hospital they were currently under. A long, oval, red oak conference table dominated most of the room's space and a projector was sat atop it. The projector was set up in the middle of the table facing the large blank wall opposite of where Alice and Luke just entered. Thirteen chairs were situated around the conference table; one at what could be called the head of the table – their Master's chair – with six chairs on each side of the oval. Alice scanned those sitting in the chairs inconspicuously and noticed, not for the first time, that showing ones face was still an evenly divided conflict; four wore hoods, four didn't and with her and Luke in addition it was a fifty-fifty split. _Oops, Lucas…_ Alice turned her head back to him for an answer to why fourthly had to be a word.

Either ignoring her preoccupation or not noticing it, Luke shrugged and commented lightly, "Because I'm the one who said it." She stared into his eyes for a moment and suddenly froze in her place. With a sly smile, Luke winked at her and left to take a seat. His arrogance never ceased to amuse her, because she could tell he just did it to make her laugh but his eyes were what froze her in place. How could she have not noticed it before!? _They're like Seto's_! So much so that it was absurd. They had the same _damn_ hypnotic quality, and they pierced right through her making her feel vulnerable. The only thing that gave her some comfort was that Luke's eyes were several shades lighter; where Seto's reminded her of ice and sapphires, Luke's reminded her of water and were thankfully more blue-green.

Taking in deep even breathes Alice calmed herself as her mind tried to focus on what was in front of her instead of what she wished was. In front of her was a challenge, one that was dangerous and highly hazardous to her wellbeing as well as her new school friends.

Just then, Luke turned around and looked at her questioningly and mouthed, "_You coming Red_?" Alice nodded before anyone else could notice her hesitation. No matter how friendly Lucas was, or how much she wished he wasn't part of the Shadows, the fact still remained that he was the enemy. She bit her lower lip as she approached the empty chair next to Luke and one of the others with their hood down.

_This would be so much easier if I could hate you, _Alice thought angrily as she pulled out her chair roughly and plopped down, slamming her duel disk and a short red strap with a pocket down on the table. Luke smiled at her coyly while she pretended he didn't exist. She was pulled from her solitude by the woman sitting across from Lucas; Scarlet, his sometimes girlfriend.

"Nice of you to join us, X. Always have to be last to arrive, don't cha princess?" Scarlet snapped, her voice dripping with spite. Alice's eyes narrowed but she made no comment.

Scarlet, as Alice had come to know her, was a snarky and highly unpleasant amazon of a woman. Scarlet made it her business to know everyone else's business, and was not subtle in the least about it. She enjoyed watching others squirm; Luke often called her a sadist behind her back. Being one that kept her hood down, she often remarked on how blessed she was for her good looks, adding another characteristic to Alice's list; narcissistic. She was unfortunately a beautiful woman, with long thickly curled black hair and a dark tan. Her beauty was however, drowned out by her insurmountably unpleasant nature. Scarlet was taller than most everyone in the room, but was not gangly in any sense. She had a rather large, and in Alice's opinion fake, chest and narrow waistline. This woman would seem like a true vision of perfection from far away, but one look in her eyes would send even the most courageous knights fleeing in terror. Alice avoided eye contact with her for this very reason. Her strange red eyes with their dark gray swirls seemed to teem with evil intentions. Scarlet craved attention and praise, so it was understood that she loathed Alice for taking any away from her.

"So where have you been?" Scarlet continued as she propped her feet up on the table, "You haven't been coming to meetings and I haven't seen any of your duels on the TV lately." She shifted in her relaxed position in an attempt to see under Alice's hood for some kind of a reaction. "Have you lost your touch, X?" She asked with deceitful kindness. Still receiving no answer she resorted to what had always worked in the past. With a murderous smile she sneered, "So it's true then, you really have gone soft. You're not as strong as you want us to believe, ehh _princess?_"

Scarlet had finally struck a nerve. She didn't know, but at that moment Alice's hands clenched into fists under the table; she didn't know, but Luke sure did.

"Cut it out Scar, you've had your laughs. Just leave Red alone." Luke commented nonchalantly as if it was the weather they were discussing.

"Red!? Since when have to called _her _Red?" Scarlet shrieked as she swung her legs down and slammed her fists on the table, glaring mercilessly at Luke.

He paled of all color and began to stammer out a reply, "I uh," he coughed. "Just recently. Thought it suited her." He finished lamely as he rubbed the back of his head nervously. His sentences had been as long as he could manage and his color was returning to his cheeks with embarrassing red hues.

"Chill out Scarlet, it's just a name." The man sitting on the other side of Alice said in a calm voice.

"Just a name?! Oh, it starts out that way, the STUPID pet names, but pretty soon he'll be drooling all over her! Don't tell me to calm down Hayden! I know what I'm talking about!" Scarlet snapped at him.

Alice peeked at Hayden out of the corner of her eye. He exhaled exasperated and shook his head at Scarlet's foolishness as she continued to rant. He sensed Alice's gaze and gave her a half smile.

"I tried kid," he muttered under his breath. Alice suppressed a giggle and then realized that this was another enemy that she was unfortunate enough to like as a friend.

Hayden was tall like Lucas, but his frame was slimmer and his muscles well hidden in his wiry limbs. Also, where Lucas had a healthy tan, Hayden was pale as can be, he even made Alice look like an orange. At first she had been truly terrified of Hayden, he gave off a "I could kill you easily and will" vibe. His hair was the same every time she saw him, white as snow and spiked in disarrays. He pulled off the I-just-woke-up-and-don't-feel-like-messing-with-my-hair look. With only his strange hair color and pale skin he would be moderately lethal looking, but with one eye being purple and the other pink he looked like some crazy, bloodthirsty lunatic. It had been a complete shock to Alice that he was in fact the calmest, and kindest of them all.

"You know Scarlet, I think you may actually be overreacting," the hooded female sitting next to her said timidly.

Scarlet's head whipped around demonically as she glared at the girl sitting next to her. "Chandra." She said curtly.

"Yes?" Came the hesitant reply.

"Shut up!"

"…ohkay."

Chandra was one of those that always wore their hood up so Alice had no idea what she could possibly look like. Whenever she got bored during these meetings, she would try to imagine faces for the voices she could hear.

"Damn Scarlet, are like PMSing or something?" The man sitting on the other side of Lucas remarked with a lopsided grin. He had long red hair parted down the middle and large, dark brown eyes. Like most of the men at the table he was big and muscular.

"LUKE! TELL YOUR DAMN FRIEND TO SILENCE HIMSELF OR I WILL!" Scarlet growled as her nails dug into the table.

Luke quickly glanced at his best friend with a pleading look in his blue eyes. The red head sighed dramatically then put his hands above his head in surrender. He then said, "Fine. Zack will stop." Falling back on his habit of speaking in the third person. "Don't know why you're still dating the harlot dude," Zack mumbled too low for Scarlet to hear. Lucas just shook his head and glanced pleadingly at Scarlet.

Scarlet's anger seemed to leak out of her as Luke continued to silently plead. With a last glare at Alice she folded her arms across her chest and sat in silence.

No one talked for a few minutes, but Alice was still curious about the three other hooded figures around the table. She couldn't tell who was who but she knew that it didn't really matter. As long as she knew their names and to stay away from them that was all she needed. One was Jasper, the Master's personal messenger boy of sorts and a doctor at the hospital; and the other two had to be Damien and Nigel, the main muscle. Sure there were a lot more minions that the Master had, but none where considered important enough to get an invite to these meetings.

"Will someone please say something," Scarlet whined, finally unable to stand the silence. She fluttered her eyelashes at Luke trying to persuade him to be the one. Luke just grimaced and after a few moments passed, a new voice answered her request.

"Has anyone seen the Master today?" The woman sitting a chair away from Scarlet asked with a small smile.

Everyone seemed to suddenly notice her presence at the table. _How could I have not seen Claves? _Alice thought with surprise and a warm smile. Claves had waist length ultra straight hair that was mellow, but exotic in its lightness and green shade. Her skin tone was middle range, not light but not dark, and her eyes were a vivid lavender. She was sitting sideways in her chair, her legs hanging over the edge of the armrest and her back gently pressed against the other one, she looked completely at ease as if Scarlet's tantrum never happened. She was sitting in between the only two empty chairs at the table. It was something Alice had always admired about her; she was so detached from the rest of them. Claves got along with everyone maybe not because they liked her but they sure respected her. With shock and anxiety, Alice wiped the smile off her face quickly.

_That's three. Three people here I consider my friends._ She groaned quietly as she looked at each of them. _Luke, Hayden, and Claves. You three just might be my undoing._ No one seemed to notice Alice's lack of interest and so conversation continued without her input. After several vague comments about the Master's whereabouts Jasper finally spoke up.

"Tha Master will beh 'ere in eh few." Jasper said in his thick Australian accent. The conversation ended there only for a moment while Zack collected his thoughts.

"So, anyone wanna make a bet?"

He had easily grabbed the attention of everyone in the room and Hayden had a wide grin spread across his pale face. They'd made numerous bets in the past, most over who would win the rarest cards, but the winner always seemed to be Hayden. Alice only ever participated as to not draw attention to herself, she never really played to win. She shifted nervously and wondered idly what they would be betting over this time and what stakes Zack had come up with.

"Ugh. You and your bets, you are _so _childish." Scarlet said as she rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. But despite her mocking words she had leaned closer in, willing to participate.

"Why thank you," Zack said as he fluttered his eyelashes at her, mimicking her earlier behavior. Scarlet scowled but said nothing as Zack continued speaking. "My bet this time is simple; whoever can get the card from the loser who has it first, wins."

_Seto!_Alice thought with hopelessly distress. She mentally chastised herself for being so foolish, it wasn't only Seto's life that was in danger but Yugi and Joey's as well. Things would be so much simpler if she was like everyone sitting at this table. But she wasn't and so now she was instantly concerned about her friend's safety. Her hand twitched toward the red poach on the table that concealed her Duel Monsters. It was too tempting to draw the cards back to her for safety, but it would bring attention back to her and that was something that need be avoided.

Nigel snorted, leaning around Hayden to look at Zack, and in his deep baritone voice asked, "What's the prize?"

Zack pondered for a second then responded, "Money of course, Seto Kaiba's," he paused with a sinister smile, "Unlike previous bets there are no rules to this one. None. Get the card to the Master first and you get free rein on all Kaiba's resources."

"I like it." Damien stated as he leaned back in his chair. He proceeded to crack his knuckles, "It's not like Kaiba's going to need them after I'm done with him."

"You're going to kill him over a card? That's sick! We don't even know if Seto's the one with the card!" Scarlet's disgust evident in her tone. For once Alice agreed with Scarlet, there was no need to get violent over this, even if Scarlet was only saying this because she fancied the billionaire.

"He's going to die someday, Scarlet. I might as well make it meaningful." Damien retorted dryly.

_This is all my fault! _Alice's conscience screamed. _**She's**__ going to be the death of not only me but Seto as well! Seto doesn't even HAVE the card! If I hadn't been protecting my own rear he wouldn't be in this mess now! _Tears began to flow down her face at a frightening speed. Grief and fear consumed her while silent sobs shook her body and the tears rolled from her chin and disappeared into the cloak. _So selfish! Horrible, horrible person! I should have known not even Seto can stop the Shadows. THIS IS YOUR FAULT TOO! IT'S YOUR CARD! _Her mental voice was shrieking now. _WHERE ARE YOU NOW, HUH? ANSWER ME!_

Alice waited for the voice to speak, for the snide remark she'd make; how her voice would seethe with radiance and power, but her mind remained silent, completely her own. She could sense _**her **_there, but she wasn't responding. This infuriated Alice to no end. No matter that the voice had comforted her in the elevator, the fact that Alice was deliberately being ignored made her go red with rage.

_I know you're in there! You might as well be a coward, hiding from me! Why won't you answer me? _Alice sneered, the tears slowing but not stopping altogether.

_**"Say my name." **_It demanded.

_Never!_ Alice countered, perhaps too dramatic for the moment.

_**"Then I shall neither help you nor console your woes." **_She responded in her superior tone.

_I don't need your help._

_**"But you do child. Just say my name, call out and I'll assist you."**_

…_no._

_**"Is it really so difficult?" **_The voice mocked.

_Yes. Yes it is. You're a voice in my head that no one else can hear… I never wanted this._ Alice confessed.

_**"And I did?" **_She challenged. _**"This is no easier on me than on you human. I suggest you swallow your pride and call me by my name. You have used it before, it won't kill you to say it now."**_

Alice was stunned. _She's right_, and now that Alice knew it she felt even worse. It was naïve of her to believe that she was the only one with problems. And it was also true she'd used her name before… numerous times. With that set in her mind Alice did what she was told and swallowed her pride.

_Forgive me. I was being very hardheaded… I know you aren't bad, well I know you don't want to be. You're like me in that way, we just can't help it. What I'm trying to say is sorry… Aeris._

_**"******__T_hat's all I needed. And now you have calmed down," She pointed out.

Alice released a sigh and discreetly rubbed the last trail of moisture on her cheek. She had been distracted from her grief by the only thing that ever worked; arguments. It was silly and she knew it, but what worked, worked.

To Alice's surprise the argument between those around the table had escalated as well. Everyone was standing and shouting accusations at the others. She was shocked to see that only herself and Claves were still seated. Even Hayden, who was always so very calm, was purple in the face from yelling. Giving up on not bringing attention to herself, Alice quickly grabbed the red strap but left the duel disk behind on the table. No one seemed to notice her movement as the yelling grew worse and showed promises of violence.

"It's just a stupid card!" Chandra shouted above the rest. Silence fell on the room as they all looked at the hooded girl, that is until another voice spoke.

"Just a card? Dear Chandra! Have you forgotten what this card means to us?" The figure that had spoken moved in through the door, the last to enter. As he swept to the head of the table he took a hand and slid down his hood. Once he was behind his chair, he swung his cloak off and placed it on its back.

Vesuvius was menacing in a way that was uniquely his own. He was slim but muscled, composed yet unstable, handsome but so very, very deadly. His purple and gray tipped hair was slicked back like needles, his maroon eyes glinting with malice, and his thin lips held false warm.

"Master Vesuvius, sir!" Chandra squeaked out, her voice jumping two octaves. "I meant no disrespect!"

"Of course not Chandra, if you had you wouldn't still be alive." The Master kept his friendly smile in place, but behind it his threat was very real. All around the room the people were trying to take their seats without being noticed. "Let's get this meeting started shall we." All heads nodded in consent as the lights flicked off and the projector was finally put to use. There, projected in front of them, were three faces Alice had come to memorize so very well. "Claves darling, you have the floor." Vesuvius said as he leaned back in his chair.

"Yes master," Claves said standing from her chair and approaching the wall. As she turned to face the table, she brushed her long clover colored hair behind her back. "I guess I should start with progress reports on everyone's progress so far," she paused thoughtfully, "Luke, how goes your team's… field work."

Zack chuckled under his breath at Claves' lame understatement, but Luke replied without hesitation. "Well, there isn't really much for us to do yet. At the moment we're just waiting for more information to come in." Zack, Hayden, Damien, and Nigel all nodded their heads to confirm their leader's account.

"That's understandable," Claves agreed as she shifted her focus to Chandra, who seemed to have regained her lost composure. "Do you have anything to report?"

Chandra was still a fair bit shaky but she managed to stand and give a decent report. "I've been tailing Yugi for almost three weeks now. He always wakes up late for school, barely passes his classes, and then goofs off with his friends after school. So far I've discovered that like many duelists he keeps his cards on him at all times, that'll make getting the God Cards from him extremely difficult. His greatest weakness has got to be that cheerleader girl that follows him around all the time," Chandra said confidently then muttered, "Leia or something–"

"Yeah, yeah! So every guy's weakness is their girl, we get it Chandra," Scarlet said cutting across Chandra. "It's my turn now." And with that Chandra retook her seat as Scarlet began her well rehearsed tale.

"I've had to work harder to get information on Joseph, he's a very discrete and private man. He expresses almost nothing about his feelings and has a level head. Joseph is utterly cautious and thinks before he acts. There have been several times when it would appear as if he were on to me, but thanks to my amazing skills," Scarlet twirled her black hair, "I was never caught. Joseph is cunning and very perceptive–"

_She can not be talking about Joey, _Alice thought as she bit her lip in an attempt to keep from laughing. _He's cunning I'll give him that, but perceptive is one thing he's not. Poor Joey, Scarlet's gunna make his life a living hell…_

"–it simply astounds me that I've been able to do so well, then again it is me. He has a sister which we might be able to use, but she lives too far away so I don't see the point when there is a much _juicer_ target around."

"Scar, get to the point." Claves said under her breath, not wanting Master Vesuvius to hear. Scarlet nodded at Claves and continued at a much less detailed rate.

"Joseph has a girlfriend, Mai Valentine. She's a duelist as well so things could get tricky, but she is definitely the one to target if Joseph has the card." Scarlet took her seat as Alice rose from hers. This was the part that she had been dreading, talking about him… talking about Seto. Her mission was her own, she could not divulge the true nature of it to anyone, especially not Vesuvius; simply put, she had to lie.

"As you've asked Master, I have been discreetly following Mister Kaiba around. He never strays from his schedules, always punctual. If he isn't at school or Kaiba Corp, then he's at home with his brother. I haven't been able to find much information on the younger Kaiba, it seems that his older brother keeps his existence hidden from the world. But," Alice paused, chewing on her lower lip. It was difficult for her to give information about Seto out freely, however if she didn't the Master would know, "I am confident the only way to his deck is through his brother."

Claves tilted her head to the side and remarked, "I'm not so sure." Everyone was a bit shocked at her interjection, but Alice welcomed the distraction.

"Whatever do you mean?" She said cautiously. She was all for leaving Kaiba's little brother, whoever he was, out of this but she wasn't following Claves' logic at all.

"I have been following all three of the possible holders of the card." Alice's eyes widened in alarm, there were several gasps around the dark room. "From what I have observed the girls are all right in their assumptions of each holder's weakness; Yugi's Téa, Joey's Mai, and Kaiba's brother. However I have found that there is one constant among all of the holders, a constant that could minimize the number of casualties and make our jobs easier."

"What do you mean a constant?" Scarlet interrupted, "Like something they all have in common? But there's nothing." Everyone stared at Scarlet as her tan cheeks began to turn pink. "I mean, Joseph and Yugi sure but Seto," _and there is was,_ Alice snarled in her mind as she ground her teeth together. She hated the way his name sounded on Scarlet's tongue. The way it wrapped around his name possessively. If Scarlet had gotten her way, she would have been Seto's Shadow, instead of Alice. "He's too good to associate with the others." Scarlet finished unaware that Alice was mentally throwing daggers at her.

"We're all aware of your fangirl nature Scar, there's no need to bring a spot light to it," Zack said as he brushed his bright red hair out of his bored face. Scarlet's face redden with rage and she was about to shout a comeback when Vesuvius held his hand out, every pair of eyes flashed to him.

"My children," Vesuvius purred in his chill inducing voice. "We are far too distracted today, let us remember why we are here. Claves darling, please continue."

The clover haired woman nodded and spoke quietly, "You see, even though they don't get along there is one person with whom Yugi, Joey, and Kaiba have regular contact with. From my observations, it's very easy to see they are all fond of her, _especially_ Kaiba." Claves shot a glance at Scarlet, then looked around the room. Everyone was captivated and intrigued, leaning toward her waiting to hear who she was talking about. "She's new, but from day one she fit in with all of them. They all seem to rotate around her, like they're fixated on her every move. I don't understand it but I can tell Joey has a brotherly bond with her, and Yugi thinks she's just so darling, and then Kaiba… I think Kaiba actually cares for this girl." Claves said, an amused tone to her usually soothing voice.

Alice's stomach began to churn uncomfortably, she did not like at all where this conversation was going. Careful, she'd always been so careful not to be noticed when around them. She was still standing from her previous report, but she was desperately wishing for a chair to fall back in, for some place to hide.

"You are right," Claves said, directing her words toward Alice causing the brunette to jump out of her trance. "Kaiba's little brother would be an excellent piece of bait, but what if we could have his lover?" Claves smiled slowly and Alice's stomach dropped through her shoes.

"Lover!?" She squeaked, beginning to regret not going to school today.

"I believe so, yes. I'm surprised you didn't notice her around, X. She goes everywhere that Kaiba goes, or rather he goes everywhere she goes. I hear him call her Porter; dark, curly brown hair, a little shorter than me, emerald green eyes; is any of this ringing a bell X, have you seen her?" Claves asked curiously as all eyes drilled into Alice. Claves really thought she had found a link between the card holders, a way to minimize unnecessary casualties. But what she had really found… _was a Shadow._

"I believe I have seen her around," Alice mumbled.

Claves nodded and straightened up as she said happily, "I knew you must have, you are very observant after all." She gave Alice what was supposed to be a comforting smile but was in no way so. "Master, I would like permission to follow around this Porter girl and see if I can get any more information on her. She could be the key to obtaining the card you, we, need so dearly."

Vesuvius' maroon eyes glinted in the light of the projector and his peaceful expression twisted into a malevolent grin. "Splendid idea Claves dear! Let us all keep an eye out for this fiery siren that has so fully captured Kaiba's attention. For now, I believe this meeting is adjourned. You all may leave."

Everyone scattered out of the room talking about Seto's new "lover". Alice stood frozen in her spot as all the world moved around her. _How could this happen?_Her breathing began to come in pants as she attempted to hold herself together. _I was careful– so careful._ Alice was falling to pieces and she was trying in vain to hold herself together. Then a most unwelcome voice broke through her scattered thoughts.

"Oh X dearest," Vesuvius slurred. "Might I see you in my office for a moment." It wasn't a question, the Master never asked questions. Nodding mutely, Alice grabbed her duel disk from the table and followed Vesuvius's large figure through the door opposite that which she entered from and into a rather dank and depressing office. When she entered, the door slammed shut behind her and her hood was ripped from her head. Golden brown tresses spilled over her shoulders as the Master whirled her around to face him. His eyes were murderous as her glared down at her, blood maroon clashing with emerald green.

"I do not welcome betrayal! It has been far too long since your last visit and I do NOT take kindly to being played." The Master hissed, all pretenses of kindness gone from his rough face. "I should kill you now for interfering with my plans, Allison!" Alice's eyes went from surprised to livid; he knew damn well that wasn't her name. All she had to do was glare and the Master was cackling darkly. "Oh, that's right, it's _Alice,"_ he sneered. He grabbed her by the hair and neck, jerking her to him. "What exactly is going on in that head of yours!"

Alice stood limply in his grasped, if she moved she would die, and she knew it. "I thought…" perhaps she could still save herself with more lies. "I thought that if I got closer to Seto I could find out about the card. I know that you seek the card and I wished to gain favor in your eyes. I couldn't come because he's been suspicious lately." Alice finished pitifully.

Vesuvius's face twisted in rage, but he let her go, stepping away from her. He shook his head once and then sat down behind his desk before speaking. "I suppose that's why you have a bandage across your forehead. If you had only let me know of your plan before hand this could have been avoided. However, your plan is ingenious." He admitted grudgingly. Alice messaged her neck gingerly, knowing it would bruise. "You will have to be cautious, more cautious then you have been acting. I know you're a terrible liar so don't even think of trying anything, then again," he mused, "Terrible liars are often the best at lying. Aren't they dear."

Alice stared him in the eyes, refusing to say anything. After several moments Vesuvius chuckled darkly and continued, "How sad that it has come to this, a Shadow shadowing a Shadow; the Shadow's Shadow. If Claves does find anything wrong with your _relationship _with Kaiba there will be consequences. I have known from the beginning you would be trouble Alice, but if she finds any fault, you will end just as your parents did. Clear."

"Naturally, Master. I will be cautious."

"I am convinced Kaiba has the card I require, and I will get it by any means. Now get out, darling. I have death warrants to make, and I am still undecided if I should include your name among them." With that, Alice fled from the room, throwing her hood up and stumbling in her haste.

She made it to the elevator and the doors shut with an addible clunk. Her fingers trembling, she was barely able to hit the second floor button. Once the elevator began its slow assent Alice slid down against the elevator wall, Vesuvius's words bouncing around in her skull.

_Death warrant, consequences, the Shadow's Shadow._Alice righted herself seconds before the elevator opened, grabbed her school bag from the corner, and hurried out to her motorcycle. She was off into the sunset before the doors to the hospital had a chance to swing shut. The meeting had taken the better part of her day; school would be over now, though after her grand betrayal she didn't think she could face Seto.

_~~~DFAD~~~_

Seto Kaiba sat at his office chair, in his mansion, furiously typing away on his state of the art laptop. He hadn't been able to concentrate had been almost eager to see her, but she never showed for school. He wasn't worried, he didn't care; that's what he kept telling himself as he typed random nothings onto a blank screen. Mokuba came bounding into the room interrupting his nonsensical typing.

"What is it Mokuba, I'm really not in the mood right now so if it can wait–"

"It can't!" Mokuba cut across him as he tossed his cell phone into his brother's surprised lap.

"What is this?" Seto asked as he picked up Mokuba's Droid.

"A cell phone," Mokuba said shaking his head playfully. "But that's beside the point. What is the point is that I've been calling Alice for hours and she's not picking up."

"You've been doing what? I thought I told you to leave her alone!" The brunette growled as he stood up, clinching the phone in his fist.

Mokuba rolled his eyes, "You did Seto, but she's my friend and when you said she wasn't at school today I got worried." Mokuba looked at his feet, his eyes grave and his expression somber. "I know her Seto, I might have just met her but I know I do." Mokuba pleaded, looking at Seto with puppy dog eyes, "She wouldn't just ditch school because she felt like it. Something is wrong, really wrong. Please call her."

Seto relaxed his hand that had been death gripping the phone and handed it back to Mokuba who sadly took it. Running a hand through his rich auburn hair in exasperation, Seto put a hand on his brother's shoulder comfortingly. "I'll do one better kid. I'm going to go find her."

Without another word, Seto left his mansion and set out for the Porter Estate. He didn't know why he was doing what he was, but he knew he wanted to make sure Alice was safe. The way he felt for her, though unwelcome, couldn't be denied any longer. He cared for her, and even if it was irrational, a part of him needed reassurance that she wasn't hurt. Part of him needed to know that she wasn't avoiding him. Part of him, that illogical and emotional part of him, wanted to tell her how he felt. And he hated that part of him.

[_A/N: You know, I'm starting to think Alice and Seto are bipolar :P maybe that's just me? Oh! And thanks to Eugene V. I. Lecrae for the marvelous names like Master Vesuvius :D P.S. I like reviews! Even if they're one word or a smiley face or even really mean. If you took the time to write a review I appreciate it and I thank you! I'm writing for you guys, even if it takes me an eternity I WILL finish this :D So review!_]


	16. Seto's Shadow

[_A/N: I have a dilemma. Should I put duels into this story or just leave it be? I need a couple of duels in here but should I go really in depth or just basic overview? Help _:) ]

***Disclaimer*** (Remember that white jacket that lets me hug myself that I said I had, yeah well they made me give it back. So now I have to say, I don't own "Yu-Gi-Oh!", or the characters)

**Chapter 16 – Seto's Shadow**

With blinding speed, Alice sped through Domino City's main streets, swerving in and out of traffic; her only thought escape. She had just been stripped of what remained of her pride, her self-confidence gone. Alice felt dirty, like she really had betrayed her friends. Even when she tried to make up for her past deeds, she could not succeed. Never before had she felt so broken, so defenseless against the world– maybe never was the wrong word. She longed to rip off her black cloak, which represented everything she was truly fighting against. The wind hit her so hard it hurt, but the sting was welcome compared to the ache of her head and heavy heart. That very wind blew her hood back, causing her hair to fall free. Quickly she began to pull her hair out of her face, motorcycle slowly decelerating.

At any other time, this would have been fine, but driving a motorcycle without seeing is never good. She twisted the handlebar ever so slightly to the right, causing her to drift off the road and toward a parked car on the side of the street. Luckily, seeing the approaching car, she gripped her hand around the brake and slammed her foot on the other one. But it wasn't enough. Her front tire hit the car's back bumper, and she tumbled off the motorcycle, head hitting the windshield of the car. The glass didn't shatter, leaving just barely a crack, meaning she must have slowed down enough.

Head reeling, she picked herself up and looked around. She had crashed into a very expensive looking Porsche. _Whoops, _Alice thought with a sheepish grin. She began to laugh when she realized no serious harm was done. _I think my head is a magnet for damage,_ she thought giggling softly as she got off the Porsche rubbing her still bandaged head. She supposed she should take what happened more seriously because it was likely she damaged some key components on the Porsche, but compared to her earlier problems this seemed almost funny.

This was the first _normal _accident that had happened to her in months, maybe even years! It was a breath of fresh air for Alice to realize that there were average accidents out there; as opposed to being stuck in a plummeting elevator for hours – _with a stunningly attractive male, _Alice added mentally with a shy smile – or being given a ride home and falling asleep in the limo of that same… male. Everything had become so tangled lately that having a car accident seemed so simple and mundane. Maybe it was the mundane occurrences that made the other events of her life seem so mountainous. Alice quickly stripped off her black cloak that marked her for what she was and began to absorb her surroundings, hoping perhaps that the owner of the fancy car was nearby.

Directly on the side of the road the Porsche was parked stood a gathering of buildings. They were the backs of buildings to be exact, no form of entry available, so Alice turned her eyes to the opposite side and let out a gasp of surprise. It was a church. And not just any church but a Catholic church, it shouldn't have made a difference but to her it did. _Surely the Porsche doesn't belong to anyone in there_, Alice thought wearily. She had not entered that church for over eight years, and still had no intention of doing so. _If the owner of the Porsche is indeed inside the church, then I'll just have to wait until they came out, _she thought stubbornly with crossed arms, her eyes scanning the landscape around the church for any sort of distraction.

There was her distraction; Domino City Cemetery. In a trance of sorts, Alice began to cross the street towards the cast-iron gate and into the all but deserted cemetery. Her boots crunched the leaves that hugged the ground as she walked through the slowly darkening day. It was around 5:20 now; her school had been let out a few hours ago, so there was no need to worry about being caught skipping class. She had no thoughts of this now as her eyes absorbed the colors that the setting sun produced off the tombstones. The granite and marble of the rocks seemed to glow in the evening light. Walking with a forgotten purpose, Alice made her way to the far back of the cemetery. There, she stopped in front of a black marble monument far too big to be meant for one person. She didn't read the names, because she never wanted to read those names. What's the point in reading something you already know, already have committed to memory? She just memorized the shape of the stone and the coloring of its edges.

On either side of the marble monument was a weeping angel. The angels' hands covered their sad faces, and they knelt facing anyone who traveled in front of the monument. Their stone wings hung at depressing angles behind them, hinting that flight was impossible through their sorrow. And yet, though the angels were meant as a comfort to families, Alice found their presence to be eerie. _What's so comforting about stone angels anyway?_ She thought as she trailed her hand down one of the angel's wings. After the number of lives she'd endangered, it'd be nice to give a little bit of comfort out, even if it meant handing out strange stone angels.

The feeling of being dirty, a prideless and weak traitor washed over her again as her fingers brushed over the angel's wings. She let these feelings come, because after this point she would promise herself not to wallow in these feelings anymore. Seto and his little brother weren't the first lives she'd put in danger for the sake of her own. Her parents were the first to suffer, and they suffered far greater than any other. Alice's hand continued to stroke the angel's wing unconsciously. They had paid with their lives without even knowing it and here the lay. Shaking her head, Alice let the oncoming thoughts flow freely. Maximillion Pegasus, that was the next person who suffered on her behalf. No matter what the price, Alice continued to push the blame off on someone else. It was to protect her that Pegasus suggested to Master Vesuvius that Seto was who they should be targeting. It was her fault, all her fault. If she had given herself up in the beginning, her parents wouldn't be dead, Pegasus wouldn't hate her, and the Kaiba brothers would be safe from harm. _I'll have to find some way to make them safe, until then maybe the best course is to ignore… Seto, _Alice thought as her fingers slide over the smooth stone.

The sound of leaves crunching behind her brought Alice's hand back to her side quickly as she spun to find the source of the noise. There was a figure walking slowly towards her, but because of the setting sun behind the figure, Alice couldn't tell who it was. She had the urge to strap on her duel disk; alas, she realized she'd left it with her motorcycle. It seemed that the figure was taking its sweet time walking toward her. Widening her stance Alice prepared for the worst, her eyes playing tricks on her as the shadows of the trees and the darkness surrounded her. The figure that was approaching was tall, which didn't comfort her in the least. She could tell from the build of their body that they were male, with hair that was slightly on the long side. For a moment her heart literally stopped, but soon it picked back up in double time.

She couldn't believe it! He was here, of all places! _What if it was his Porsche… _Alice thought as her cheeks began to heat up at the thought of having to explain that. He was almost to her, she'd better start talking now if she wanted to get a word in before he started ranting.

"Seto, look I'm really sorry about your… you're not Seto?" Alice said as the man got close enough for her to see his face. She rubbed the back of her neck nervously, "I'm sorry sir, I could have sworn you were someone I knew."

The young man stopped in front of her and smiled encouragingly, "That's alright miss, I thought perhaps you were someone else too." He turned his head and looked around them and then at the weeping angel she had been touching as he continued speaking. "We've been having an awful lot of vandalism lately and I thought that you were perhaps defiling this angel." He placed his hand on the angel's wing in an odd display of affection, "But I can see it's alright now, so really I should apologize."

"There's no need," Alice said shaking her head, "I shouldn't have been touching the statue, but something about its wings was almost hypnotizing."

The man chuckled as he put his hands in his pockets, "You'd be surprised how often I actually hear that. Oh! I do feel so rude for not introducing myself," he took one of his hands out of his pockets and held it out to her, "I'm Father David."

Alice's eyes widened in surprise but she took his hand quickly and shook it so she wouldn't seem impolite. A bit dazed she asked, "Father David? As in Father David of that Catholic church?"

Father David shook her hand smiling, "Why yes I am, have you ever been to our church?"

Alice took her hand when he released it and intertwined it with her other behind her back. "A few times, but I'm not Catholic anymore," she admitted sheepishly.

He smiled understandingly, but shook his head as he said, "Once a Catholic, always a Catholic. I don't think I caught your name though." Alice looked down in embarrassment then back up quickly.

"I seem to be doing that a lot lately, forgetting to tell people my name I mean. I'm Alice Porter," she said with a smile even as the chilly night air blew her hair across her face, and her earlier thoughts still stained her mind.

"Nice to meet you Alice Porter," he said with a smile. Alice got the feeling that this man smiled a lot. He had laugh lines – even though he looked to be about thirty – and a very pleasant nature. His ginger hair looked untidy for what her image of a Father of a Catholic church should look like. His green eyes were light and alert, reminding her of a cat's. She remembered reading somewhere that having a cat in a church was supposed to be good luck, and then had to bite her lip to keep herself from giggling. Delirious. She had to be delirious from all the head trauma.

"Nice to meet you too Father David," she replied quickly.

"I have a question for you Miss Alice, you don't have to answer if you wish," he said with a curious tilt of his head.

"Of course, I do love answering questions. Though I've found I enjoy asking them even more," she said with an honest laugh.

Father David laughed with her then said, "We shall take turns then. My question is simple, please do not think of me as nosey," Alice nodded her head in agreement so he continued with only a slight hesitation, "–but were you waiting for someone here?"

Startled, Alice's smile slipped off her face in confusion, "I don't think I understand."

His face became as somber as hers as he continued, "When I was approaching you and you called out I heard the name Seto. Miss Alice, where you waiting here for Mister Kaiba?"

Alice stood in front of Father David flabbergasted. Her mouth was slightly open and her eyes wide as she attempted to stammer out a response, "I, well no… you see." She huffed in exasperation, "I'd just been thinking about him, in a normal friendly way of course," she blushed slightly but hurried to continue, "And he always seems to just materialize out of nowhere and well–"

Father David graciously interrupted her, "I see. You saw me coming and thought I was him. The only reason I ask is for curiosity's sake, I've never seen the elder Kaiba come to visit his stepfather's grave."

"Stepfather's grave?" Alice asked in confusion as she looked back at her parents' graves. _No way. Just no way. That's sick and wrong, Seto CAN'T be related to me!?_Alice thought as horror began to show on her now paling face.

Father David registered the look of appall on Alice's face and with a confused expression looked around. Realization hit him, "Oh, no!" He gestured to a plain white marble tombstone next to her parents', "This is his grave. Apologizes," he said bowing slightly at the waist, a tinge of pink in his cheeks. "I am sorry about that; perhaps I should have been more specific. I have never seen the elder Kaiba visit his stepfather, Gozaburo Kaiba, here. Only the younger Mister Kaiba has ever been seen here."

"Really?" Alice asked biting her lip, her color returning to normal. "That's kinda sad," she admitted as she looked at the poor condition of Gozaburo's tombstone.

"I agree Miss, but from what I can gather the elder Kaiba seemed to have had a falling out with Gozaburo – not that the younger Kaiba got along with him much better, but at least I see him once a year." Father David heaved a sigh then seemed to look at Alice with new eyes. "You're here visiting your parents, these are their graves?"

Alice nodded her head sadly then fixed her eyes back on the angel's wings; she found it helped to focus on something when discussing such things as this. "Yes. They died when I was still quite young. I don't think I had any say in their funeral arrangements, but I can't say I truly detest that."

Father David regarded Alice thoughtfully after he read the words on her parents' graves carefully, "I can see that. They had lovely names; I do believe I had met them a few times. Yes, Daniel and Charlotte Porter." He smiled fondly, as if remembering some dear memory, "If I recall correctly your mother had blonde hair so light, that it looked almost like snow." He looked to Alice for conformation but she just stood in front of him, dark hair blowing in the wind. "She had the same emerald green eyes you have," he went on seeming to be ignorant of the way Alice had suddenly stilled. "I always found seeing them together quite humorous. With Charlotte being all white and green's, and Daniel with his black hair and blue eyes. Your mother was such a tiny thing, and your dad was a tall built man, but a bit of a nerd." He finished with an apologetic smile, "Perhaps I shouldn't have said that…"

"No," Alice said, snapping out of her static moment and moving her hand to fix her hair as she smiled back. "I don't remember much about them but my dad being a nerd, that I do remember. Did you know them well?"

"Sadly not as well as I would have liked, but well enough. Which brings me to my next question, if I may?" He asked, seeming worried that his constant questions would bother her.

"Of course, I'll have to come back with a list of questions for the next time to catch up to you." Alice said with a chuckle as she tried to maintain a positive mood and ready herself for the Father's next question.

"Naturally," Father David agreed with a warm smile. "Now do you know what the epitaph on your parents' gravestone means?"

"I'm afraid I don't," Alice said. "Like I said earlier, I had little say in their funeral arrangements. The epitaph was picked by… someone else." She finished quietly, because she knew who had picked the words. _**"Vesuvius,"**_ Aeris sneered viciously. Alice had never heard her voice so venomous before now. It was the reason Alice despised Vesuvius as much as she did, because he was the real reason her parents were dead, and then he had the gall to make their funeral arrangements. Alice struggled to keep her face neutral but didn't know if she was succeeding.

"Pity." He commented as he shoved his hands back into his pockets because of the chilly air. Examining the epitaph, Father David read the words aloud, "Pulvis et Umbra sumus. Huh, what language is that? Italian?"

"**Latin."**The word came out of her mouth without her willing it, but she let the moment pass as Father David continued to speak. She was getting more use to her interactions with Aeris, but the idea of another presence in her mind still made her uneasy.

Father David, not seeming to notice Alice's slight change in tone continued on conversationally. "Latin you say, hmm. Well I suppose it's just another mystery for me then. Some mysteries you never can crack."

"Oh!" Alice said with a start, "That reminds me!"

Father David jumped at her sudden outburst, "Yes?"

"Do you know anyone who owns a silver Porsche? It was parked outside the church and I was trying to find the owner."

"I do in fact know the owner of the car you're talking about," he replied proudly.

"That's great! You see I accidently lost control of my motorcycle when my hair got in my face and so I veered off to the right and hit its back bumper. The glass only has a slight crack in it so nothing too serious, and why are you looking at me like that?" Alice asked nervously as Father David's face had gone from shining pride to an openmouthed shock. "Uh-oh. That, that was your Porsche…wasn't it Father?"

Father David nodded numbly, mouth still open and eyes sad. Alice asked for his phone to put her number in incase he wanted her to pay for the damages. As he handed it to her, he composed himself, "It's alright, I have great insurance. You'd find it funny how many times that old girl gets hit. I'm beginning to think that it's a magnet for damage."

"You know, I was just starting to think that about my head," Alice confessed to him rubbing her still bandaged head after she handed his phone back.

"I feel horrible, I didn't even think to ask! Are you alright?" He said as his eyes raked her head for signs of damage. Seeing the bandage already wrapped around her forehead, Father David assumed immediately that the car accident was the cause and was preparing to make a full-blown safety lecture when Alice cut him off.

"My head is fine! I hope," Alice admitted sheepishly as she began to turn and walk toward the gate. "Anyway I really should head out again, didn't mean to let the daylight get away from me. If you need any help paying for damages give me a call, yes?"

Father David kept pace with her, shaking his head at the perplexing creature beside him. "I don't think there will be any need for that, but thank you."

Alice nodded her head as they continued to walk forward in silence. It had only been maybe fifteen steps when she heard Father David suck in a surprised breath. Confused, but always curious, Alice turned to look at him out of the corner of her eye and found him openly staring at her.

Father David cleared his throat and asked, "I meant to ask you, nearly forgot too, but Miss Alice are you an angel?"

"An angel!?" Alice choked out as she looked around confused, "Who me? What kind of absurd question is that? No offense," she added with a laugh. Their walk had come to a halt only a few yards away from the gate.

"None taken." The Father said with a good natured smile as he put his hands in his pockets. "It has become more difficult over the years for me to tell what people are dressed as for Halloween, I was sure I was on the mark though."

This surprised Alice; then again, it made more sense than the Father of a Catholic church asking her if she was a real angel. She looked over herself quickly, having vaguely remembered dressing in all white before leaving her house. "Halloween? Is it really?" She asked more to herself than to Father David. Then with a chuckle and she muttered, "Where does the time go?"

"If you're not an angel, then what did you dress as?" Father David asked with curiosity evident in his tone. Alice had to admit, he hadn't been lying when he said he enjoyed asking questions. Without really thinking about it, Alice decided that she would give him the truth.

"I'm a Shadow." She said with a sad smile. The last hint of sun was slowly disappearing against the horizon, leaving the Father's hair shining like wild flames atop his head as he regarded her with that same curious expression.

"A shadow? In white? But aren't shadows suppose to be dark, like creatures of evil and misfortune?" He asked, confusion coloring his words.

She giggled. _**"He is stunningly perceptive,"**_ Aeris said with a hint of amusement. Alice then nodded in agreement to Aeris' words more than to the Father's questions. "Hasn't anyone ever told you Father?" Alice asked as she put a hand on his shoulder and readied herself for the words that _**she**_ was about to speak. _**"**_**Not all Shadows are dark."**

With that Alice walked past him, absorbing the words that she, or rather Aeris, had spoken. She made it to the gate and turned to give a final wave to Father David, who looked positively delighted and nodded back at her. Alice got back to her motorcycle and decided that this time she'd be safe and put on her helmet. As her black Kawasaki Ninja roared to life, she realized that since it was Halloween, perhaps she could get a bit of shopping done without attracting too much attention.

She had needed to shop for a few weeks now, her basic necessities were beginning to run out on her. However, Vesuvius had insisted that as a Shadow they all had to limit the number of people that saw them. As Alice walked through the automatic doors of Domino city's local store, head subtly throbbing, she was relieved when she saw most customers and employees were dressed for the occasion. Still, spending the least amount of time possible here would be wise on her part. With that in mind she headed to the pharmaceutical section of the store. Bandages, a suture kit, disinfectant, gauze, pain killers – Alice loaded her cart with all she could get her hands on. She could feel the curious glances of passersby, but nothing to make her feel too uneasy. Needless to say, it was best for her to keep moving so she headed to find some shampoo.

After having wasted most of her shampoo earlier this morning, Alice figured since she was already here it would do her no harm. Sweet Sliferwas she ever wrong. Standing a few paces in front of her was Claves, her new Shadow. Claves stood there looking through the assorted shampoos and conditioners as if nothing were amiss. Light green hair brushed softly against her back as her hand reached out to examine a bottle. If Alice hadn't recognized the green hair and fair skin, she would have never suspected Claves of nefarious activities. Having ditched her black Shadow cloak, Claves could have been any other shopper. With her senses on red alert, Alice began to skim the shelves for her Strawberry X-treme Fusion while still keeping an eye on Claves.

It was out of the corner of her eye that Alice saw the other two; Scarlet and who she assumed was Chandra, standing leisurely behind a small bin of sunscreen and tanning oil. Even though Claves was wearing black, tight fitting clothes, combat boots, and had pale green hair, she still blinded in far better than either of the others.

Alice was surprised – though she shouldn't be – that all three Shadows kept to the code, wearing only shades of gray and black. It was a strange thing, their dress requirements, but like any job, even that of a Shadow, there was a dress code. Claves had on a dark gray tank top that exposed her midriff, with a snug black jacket that did the same. She was wearing what looked like under armor pants, the ends of the pants were covered by her gray-black combat boots. A gray belt sat sideways on her hips, holding what could only be a Duel Monsters deck. Even all this was subtle and simplistic, contrasting greatly with Scarlet's choice of dress.

Scarlet was all decked out in the classic school girl outfit; button up shirt, tie, blazer, miniskirt, and knee socks, all shades of black and looking to be about two sizes too small for her. Her hair was the same heavy looking black curls she'd had in the conference room, but it had been pulled up into a ponytail with several curls hanging down. She had a black and gray lace ribbon in her hair. Next to her was Chandra. This was the first time Alice had ever actually seen Chandra without her black cloak on. It was now very apparent that Chandra was extremely short; she looked almost childlike standing next Scarlet. Her clothes seemed to emphasize this fact. She was wearing black and gray stripped leggings, with a dark gray over dress, a lighter gray turtleneck shirt under that, and plain black sneakers. Alice wondered what Chandra and Claves were supposed to be dressed as for Halloween. She assumed Scarlet was a school girl, but the other two could have been just about anything.

Grabbing her shampoo and placing it into her hand basket, Alice turned to hurry out of that particular section. Perhaps the Shadows were just in the store by some grand cosmic coincidence, however unlikely that was. Alice was sure she would find out quickly; if they continued to "shop" then it was simply bad luck, however if they followed it could not be denied that they were here for her. Alice headed to find a new tie to replace the one of Seto's that she ruined. Looking through the various racks of ties, she was pleased to see that they had a wide selection. She chose one similar to the one he leant her, but lingered in the section a while longer.

Looking around, Alice saw that the Shadows weren't immediately behind her, but that didn't make her feel any more at ease. Alice hastily walked to the winter weather section and began to skim through the options with lightning speed. She desperately needed a winter coat, but with the circumstances she was under at the moment perhaps this wasn't the right moment. Despite that, Alice grabbed an orange coat and turned it over in her hands before a sharp female voice cut in.

"That coat is absolutely hideous. Orange is so_ not _your color. However," a tan hand with bright red nails shot out and took the item from Alice, "Anything looks good on me." Alice looked up into the face of one of her least favorite people on the planet, Scarlet. Scarlet was holding the so called "hideous" jacket up to herself and smiling falsely at Alice. The amazon women then proceeded to throw the coat in some random direction and shake her head.

"You know _I _can help you find something yummy so you look good for your boy," Scarlet's eyes glinted with malice, but her smile was still held in place. "My name is Sandy by the way."

If Scarlet was going to lie straight to her face, then Alice would do the same. It was obvious that she was pretending to be nice just to get information, probably on Seto and probably just for her personal pleasure. Alice repressed a shutter and tried to smile back genuinely but she knew she was failing, so she gave up.

"Sandy, huh? Do you work here, or are you this pushy on a regular basis? Oh, and I'm Amanda by the way." Alice gave her a sugary smile, as Scarlet's was wiped off her face.

"Well aren't you just the sweetest thing," Scarlet commented through clenched teeth. "For your information I just _love _to help people out." Then all of a sudden she was bubbling like a normal teenage girl as she gushed, "So are you looking for a yumalicious outfit to impress your boy toy?" In spite of the absurdity of the question and the person asking it, Alice felt herself begin to blush. "Wow." Scarlet said as she looked at the brunette's very red face, her voice losing its bubblegum tone and revealing the beast within. "You _really_ are crushing. Who is it." She demanded as she took a step forward.

Alice was still slightly stunned but recovered as she looked into the red and gray eyes glaring down at her. "No one. I," Alice gave a nervous exhale, "There's no one that I care about in that kind of way."

"I think you're lying," Scarlet said blatantly, "I know you're lying. You have a thing for someone, someone out of your league. He's probably rich and he's handsome, what could he possibly see in you."

"Stop it," Alice said weakly.

Scarlet didn't seem to hear her, "Oh and don't forget how brilliant he is. How he's got such an intelligent mind to go with his beautiful, god like body."

"Please stop," Alice said a little louder, hands clenched in fists.

Scarlet sneered down at her with a wicked smirk. Alice had once thought Mikaila was bad, but Scarlet was rivaling that. "I knew it, it's _so _obvious really. You probably pant after him just like every other fangirl." Alice flushed with rage and opened her mouth to object, but how could she? It was true wasn't it? She did think Seto was handsome _and_ amazing; did that make her like everyone else? "See, can't even contradict me. Just tell me his name, tell me so I can give him a real woman to sati—"

"SCARLET!" The authoritative voice cut the amazon woman off mid-word, and she did not look pleased. Scarlet was ready to rip the throat out of whoever interrupted her fun, then she turned and saw the stone face of Claves and froze instantly. "Over here, now." Scarlet shot Alice a loathing look before she hastened to Claves' side. Alice could just barely make out Claves' voice as she openly gawked at the exchange.

"I told you this was a discrete operation, that you could accompany me only to observe and most definitely _not_ interfere. Master Vesuvius will hear about this at our next meeting, go take Chandra and wait for me while I try to fix your idiocy." Claves said in monotone. Scarlet looked ready to object, but something in Claves' expression made her stop. Scarlet walked past her and grabbed Chandra, who was looking at a pair of men's boxers, and walked a distance away before stopping. Claves openly sighed, then turned and walked toward Alice.

Alice tried to compose herself, but she was sure her mouth was still open in surprise. Claves stood in front of her, smiling somewhat sheepishly. Alice was trying to think of something to say, but Claves spoke before she thought of anything.

"I'm really sorry about her, I've been telling everyone she should be locked up, but I haven't made much progress." Shaking her head she continued, "It looks like she ruffled your feathers a bit, unfortunately she's fairly talented at that." Claves paused as if waiting for Alice to say something, but when Alice didn't she kept talking. "Probably lied to you about her name too, it's Scarlet by the way, not whatever she came up with this time."

"Sandy." Alice said quietly.

"I'm sorry?" Claves said as she leaned closer to Alice, having not heard her.

"She told me her name was Sandy and that she wanted to help me find something nice to wear for the guy I like," Alice confessed as her traitor blush painted her face.

"I see," Claves said sounding troubled, though why she was troubled Alice had no idea.

"She kept asking questions, well more like making accusations about who he was." Alice didn't understand why she was telling Claves all of this, it didn't matter.

Claves chuckled however and spoke kindly, "Well I hope you didn't tell her a thing." And for some reason, Alice believed her. There had always been something about Claves that Alice admired, perhaps she could somehow repay her kind words… even if they might be fake.

"I didn't," Alice said with a heavy sigh, "I even lied to her and said my name was Amanda." _How great it'll be when Scarlet embarrasses herself at the meeting when she spouts off a fake name,_ Alice thought smugly.

"Did you really?" Claves laughed, "Well that'll be a blow to her ego when she finds out, she thinks she's such a great detective." Alice laughed too, and then steeled herself as she held out her hand.

"My name is Alice." This would surely be the death of her later when Vesuvius heard. He might know that she's friends with Seto and the others now, however when he hears that she's not trying to make things happen to get the card, then somehow she doubts it'll end well.

Claves looked shocked, but pleased as she shook her hand. "I'm Claves."

"This is going to sound weird," Alice said nervously, "But what are you dressed as for Halloween?"

Claves chuckled, "That does sound weird, but then my answer is just as strange. I'm a Shadow."

Alice stilled instantly. "That's cool," she managed to choke out.

"Not really," Claves said, "But it's what I am so I can't–"

But Alice wasn't listening anymore because over Claves' shoulder she could see a woman with familiar black hair talking with Scarlet and Chandra. Alice's eyes went wide as she saw Chandra point in her direction and the woman began to approach her and Claves.

"There you are Alice, I thought I saw you earlier in the pharmacy section so I 'av been asking around." Sofia said with a warm smile. She opened her mouth, most likely to explain why she was searching for her when Alice spoke up.

"Will you excuse me for a moment," Alice said to Claves as she grabbed the elder woman's arm and pulled her a safe listening distance away. Even farther still, she dragged Sofia around a clothing shelf so the Shadows couldn't see them.

"Sofia!?" Alice exclaimed in shock as she looked at her motherly cook.

"Yes signora, I must also do shopping." The woman said, her dark brown eyes looking at Alice questioningly. "Is there something the matter?"

Alice glanced sideways around the corner at the Shadows and saw that they were watching the spot she had disappeared behind intently. Realizing the gravity of the situation Alice quickly began to run through all of her options, but none of them seemed very good. She peaked back at the Shadows, Claves was now politely averting her gaze, and Chandra and Scarlet had their heads bent together and were talking animatedly.

"Signora Alice, what is the meaning of your strange behavior?" Sofia asked as she placed a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "Are you in some kind of trouble, bambino?"

Alice shook her head sadly, "You don't know the half of it." How had it come to this, where the first thing that Sofia thinks is that there is trouble? Then again, that's how this whole mess started back in Egypt… _it's time that I try to make things better, _she thought. Alice started to devise a plan, a plan that would hopefully keep Sofia and Amy as far away from harm as possible. After gaining a Shadow, any and everyone that she was familiar with became a potential target. Whether it was a good plan or not was still uncertain, but it was the only idea she had.

"If you are in danger, we should get you home," Sofia said as she started to lead Alice out of the store.

"No, Sofia." Alice said as she pulled away from the woman even knowing the hurt that would cross her features. "This isn't one of those problems I can run away from. I know this won't make sense, and I promise to explain everything later, but for now you've got to leave now, alone."

"Leave?" Sofia asked in confusion, she clutched her purse tighter to her side. "Why would I leave you, il mio amore?"

_Why does the right thing always have to hurt so much? _Keeping her voice down Alice responded. "Because what's happening isn't something that I need your help with, you or Amy. It's dangerous, more dangerous than before," Alice gave Sofia a loaded look, and for the first time surprise flickered across the older woman's features. "Go to my house, tell Amy she's fired and never return. Leave, and don't contact me until I," Alice swallowed hard. "I'll contact you, when it's safe. And if people come asking for me, tell them you hate me, because it's the only thing that'll keep you safe."

Sofia shook her head, her eyes shining with unshed tears, "Mio dio, this is madness."

"I know, believe me I know. I also know I'm breaking your heart," Alice took a step forward and kissed Sofia on the cheek, "And I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to break it further." Stepping back into the view of the Shadows, Alice side glanced to make sure they were still there before she said her final words to Sofia. "Now, hit me. Hit me and call me whatever names you can think of, because that danger I mentioned is here now."

Shaking her head but stepping forward, Sofia closed the gap between them. Eyes brimming with tears, and face red with worry, she swung hard and slapped Alice across the face. The sound seemed to echo across the store, the attention of costumers and the Shadows was now captured. And Sofia, like a true friend, played her part.

"You selfish, horrible child!" Sofia spat at her, "After everything I 'av done for you! I hope you rot, you wicked demon!" Her hand came across and slapped Alice again, this one hurt more somehow. Perhaps it was the weight of the words she had just yelled at her, but Alice felt horribly empty inside again.

Sofia leaned forward and whispered, "I promise you la mia ragazza, when it is safe we will be together. Do not fret for our safety." With that Sofia stormed out of the store, keeping her angry façade in place.

Alice's cheek stung, but that was expected. Slowly she walked back to where Claves was standing, and looked up at her face. The green haired seemed to have been shocked by the exchange but she was trying to hide it. Hopefully, the message that there was no kindness between the two had gotten across to the Shadows.

"Sorry about that," Alice said with a pathetic attempt at a smile, "I fired the old bat months ago, but she's senile so she sometimes forgets how much she hates me." The words sounded false to her ears, but it seemed that Claves detected nothing wrong in them.

"I kind of feel bad for her, she seemed really upset." Claves said as she glanced toward the exit. "Are you alright?"

"She'll manage. And I'm fine, it's just never any fun dealing with her though. I suppose I could have been nicer if your friend hadn't put me in such a bad mood." The lies continued to leave Alice's mouth, but Claves kept accepting them without a flinch.

"What exactly did Scarlet say to you, if I may?" Claves seemed concerned, and whether she actually was or not didn't matter at the moment to Alice.

"She kept saying that I wasn't good enough to be with the guy I like," Alice gave a false laugh, "Funny thing is I never told her who he was but it was like she already knew."

Claves flinched at the comment, "I'm sure you're plenty deserving of whoever the guy is."

"You're wrong, Claves. Scarlet was right, he's so far out of my league it makes me dizzy. He treats me just like everyone else sometimes." Alice admitted as the tears she'd been holding back from what happened with Sofia slowly started to make her sight blurry.

Shock crossed Claves face and she looked confused, but she comforted Alice with words nonetheless. "It's not about the times that he treats you like everyone else, but the moments when he treats you like nobody else. When he says things to you that he would never dream of saying to someone else. When he touches you and suddenly you two are the only people in the world."

Alice looked at Claves through her tears, "How do you know all of that?"

It was Claves turn to blush, and the color contrasted so beautifully with her light green hair. "You're not the only one who likes someone." Alice stared at Claves in wonder as she wiped some of the tears off her face that were still falling. "But liking someone isn't always what's best for the other person." And just like that Alice's wonder faded and Claves soft, blushing face turned to stone. "I was once told if you love something you should let it go, perhaps you should do the same."

Alice nodded numbly and walked past Claves without as much as a goodbye. She didn't even glance at Scarlet and Chandra as she passed, and when she got to the checkout she handed the cashier a fifty and didn't say a word as she walked toward the door without change. She stuffed the grocery bag into the side pocket of her bike bag next to her backpack, and she smashed her helmet onto her head as she peeled out of the parking lot.

It was pitch black now, all the street lamps were giving off artificial light, and the evening traffic had died down to almost nothing. Alice gripped the crossbar, her nails digging into the rubber of the handles as she tried to keep her speed down. She longed to rip through the city, to destroy everything in her path, to be the person that she never wanted to be. But that wasn't her, she was just angry and hurt.

Stinging drops of cold rain began to fall as she was a little over half way home. She welcomed the pain of the frozen water, but she slowed because she didn't want to crash into another Porsche. The roads were becoming more and more dangerous as Alice neared her house, the once cold rain was sleet that blanketed the road and her body. By the time she could see her house she was shivering so hard she didn't even notice the car parked in front of her house.

Alice pulled into the garage and slid off her Ninja. She took off her helmet and placed it on the seat and then got out her backpack and grocery bag. Shivering, Alice wiped the last of her tears off her cheeks as she exited her garage and started walking toward her front door. Her heels clicked on the stone walkway as she pulled her house key out of her backpack. "_You should really think about locking your door."_ Seto had written those words jokingly on the note he left her after taking her home in the rain, but she had taken his advice anyway._ "I was once told if you love something you should let it go, perhaps you should do the same."_ Alice shook her head as she neared her front door. She needed to stop thinking about him if she could help it.

"I was wondering when you'd finally get home. Did you have fun skipping school?"

Alice dropped her bags in fright and her heart stopped in her chest for a few moments, and then picked back up at double time. There, sitting on her front porch, soaking wet and looking angry, amused, sarcastic, and damn sexy, was Seto Kaiba. _So much for not thinking about him._

"Wh…what are you doing here?" Alice stammered as she bent down and picked up her bags, pretending like she hadn't dropped them accidently.

"I believe I asked first," Kaiba said smugly in reply as he watched her struggle for composure.

"I suppose you did… I wasn't skipping, and no it wasn't fun." Alice replied crossly, "Now my turn, what are you doing sitting on my front porch?"

"Would you believe that I was in the neighborhood and was dying to see you?" Kaiba asked with his trademark smirk that made Alice's heart stutter.

"No." She said bluntly as she tried to ignore the effect he had on her.

Kaiba just chuckled and stood to his feet stretching as if he'd been sitting there for an eternity. He then walked up to Alice, stopping inches in front of her, rain and sleet rolling off his hair as he looked down at her. Alice's heart was behaving as if she was running a marathon, and she mentally cursed herself for being a hormonal teenager. "Well then," he began smoothly, "That was _exactly_ what happened." Kaiba's heart stuttering smirk turned into that beautiful smile that made Alice's legs weak and her head spin.

"Let's say that hypothetically I believe your story, which I don't," Alice clarified as she took a step back from him, hoping desperately that distance was the key to maintaining composure, "How did you get here?"

"I drove." Kaiba said simply as he watched droplets from melted sleet and rain roll down Alice's smooth face. He watched mesmerized as the liquid ran down her long neck, across her collarbone and down into the crevice between her soft, round–

"Hello?" Alice asked with a hint of concern in her voice.

Kaiba's head shot to her face with his smirk back in place. "What?"

"I said don't you normally have Roland drive you around?" Alice waited but he just continued to smirk down at her without saying a word. "I didn't think you owned any cars, just a bunch of limos…" She continued nervously as she began to recognize the feverish light in his eyes, she'd seen it before but couldn't place where.

"I own everything," Kaiba said suggestively as he looked Alice up and down. _I wonder if she even realizes what she's wearing… and what it does to any male she sees, _Seto thought devilishly as he absorbed her wet figure.

Alice wrapped her arms around herself in a self-conscious act caused by his intense gaze, and turned away from him to search for a distraction. She spotted his vehicle almost instantly and muttered, "I can't believe I missed something that ostentatious on my way in…" A little louder Alice asked, "So that's your car?" She squinted her eyes trying to see the blue Arash AF10 through the sleet and darkness.

"Of course that's my car. Who else could drive the equivalent of sex on wheels and still look better than it?" He looked at her back as if waiting for a response, when she gave none he continued looking very pleased, "I honestly had trouble deciding whether to buy that beauty or the Koenigsegg CCXR, so I bought both."

"You bought both!?" Alice asked her voice jumping a few octaves as she turned back to look at him, "Why on Earth did you buy both?"

Kaiba shrugged nonchalantly, "Because I do what I want."

Alice rolled her eyes playfully, "You are so spoiled."

A wicked plan formed in Kaiba's mind and he stepped closer to Alice again. Taking his hand, he placed it on her hip and pulled her to him fully, causing her to let out a gasp. He then took his other hand and moved some of the wet hair out of her face and purred softly, "Not as spoiled as I'd like you to make me."

"Stop it," Alice said as she put her hands on his chest, trying to push him away and failing. He was a lot stronger than he looked, and he didn't look weak in the slightest. Alice's hands moved against his chest, feeling his strong body with her fingers and not understanding what that would do to the owner of the body. She could feel the cords of muscle under her fingertips and his toned abs under her palms. Alice looked away blushing as she felt his body flex against her hands.

"Why should I stop if you seem to be enjoying it as much as I am?" Seto whispered huskily and she shivered – because of the cold. _Why do I feel like we've had this conversation before…_

"Because the last time I saw you," Alice began as she pulled her hands off his chest and held them together against her own. "You stormed away from me and behaved like a child." It was hard for her not to just simply forgive him and go inside, but somehow it didn't feel right letting him in her house without first setting this straight. Seto chuckled warmly, and Alice cocked her head to the side at him confused. "Are you feeling alright?" She asked as her eyes narrowed on his face suspiciously.

Seto continued to chuckle, "I'm perfect, as per my usual. Wouldn't you agree?" He asked with a sly smirk.

Alice pushed at his chest again, glaring meaningfully up at him. This time he relented and let go of her waist. "That's not what I meant and you know it." Her glare softened slightly, "Normally when I insult you, you make my insult sound… dirty." Alice blushed profusely as Seto's smirk intensified at the last word. "Is there something wrong?"

"Does the fact that I didn't call you a petafile for sexually assaulting a 'child' bother you that much?" Seto asked as he leaned over her, causing Alice to shrink away from him. Seto didn't know if it was the fact that he hadn't seen her since what happened in the elevator, or if he just wanted to make her blush, but he didn't want to stop. As he continued leaning toward her, so she took an unsteady step backward. His hand was ready and he placed it on the small of her back and pulled her into him again. In order to keep her face away from his as he continued to lean down, Alice arced her back and bent herself backwards.

With Seto leaned over her, she could see that the sleet had turned into snow during their conversation and was slightly distracted by it. She was brought back by Seto's sigh and the loosening of his grip on her, causing her to slide closer to the ground. Alice gripped his shirt in fright before she stared up at him pleadingly.

"You have got to be the only girl in history that stares off into space when a handsome man is flirting with you." Seto said as he dipped her lower to the ground.

Alice clutched at his shirt desperately and replied airily, with a bit of cheek, "I never said you were handsome… and who's sexually assaulting who now."

"But you were thinking it, and I know this doesn't really bother you at all," he replied as he let her slide a little closer to the ground, causing her to cling to him. Seto smiled at this, "Besides, I have a few more questions for you and for some reason you don't lie when we're like this." He ran his hand down her side to emphasize what "this" he was referring to.

"Can't we just talk inside?" Alice pleaded. She regretted not letting him into her house now.

"If talking is all you have in mind then most definitely not." Seto whispers in her ear. His breath was hot on her cool skin, goose bumps forming down her exposed neck and it felt as if he was doing it on purpose. Something in his voice sounded deeper, huskier, as he nuzzled his face in the crook of her neck causing her to gasp. What had he said? She couldn't recall. Should she be insulted? She wasn't sure. All she knew was in this very second she never, never wanted him to let her go. Her hands that were once there to push him away pulled him closer.

"Now that's better," Seto said, voicing his approval. Alice was finding it hard to breathe, her heart was hammering in her chest and her thoughts were shattered. Her hands slid along his chest again, but this time with purposefully pressure. His muscles became taut as she raked his fingers down his body, causing him to exhale an unsteady breath that tickled her skin. Seto tightened his grip on her back. Alice was focused on the feel of his warm body under her chilled hands, forgetting entirely about anything else.

With the snow falling all around them, the two teenagers held each other, hands running along the other's body. Breathing labored, and hearts pounding, neither registered how dark it had become outside until the light in the archway flickered on. Alice and Seto momentarily paused to look at the light, then they looked back at each other. Pressed together like they were, Alice no longer felt bone chillingly cold. She smiled shyly up at Seto as she ran her hands up his chest again. His eyes darkened considerably and Alice felt his heart beating wildly, she slipped her arms around his neck and watched as Seto's eyes darted down to her lips.

Man did she ever want to kiss him! Alice fluttered her eyes unconsciously, feeling slightly dazed but content. She ran her fingers along the back of his neck and up into the soft, chestnut colored hair, threading her fingers through his locks. Seto's eyes closed infinitesimally, as he began to lean down toward the beautiful girl entrapped in his arms. And then he seemed to realize what he was doing, as if waking from a daydream. Groaning slightly, Seto shook his head gently and whispered, "I want you so much."

His words made Alice thrilled, but as he said it he straightened to his full height and brought Alice with him. They now stood face to face in the falling snow, Alice flushed and breathless, Seto pale and composed. He turned away from her and in his normal voice of ice and daggers said, "We should go inside."

Perplexed and a bit wounded, Alice hastily picked up the grocery bags, backpack, and keys she hadn't realized she'd dropped again. She unlocked the door, and then turned to face Seto. Alice intended to ask why he'd stopped, to question why he always seemed to stop when she wanted him to continue. She wanted to know why he would catch her, only to throw her to the ground afterward; metaphorically of course. But as she looked at him, she didn't see Seto Kaiba the CEO or duelist. He looked like a soldier who'd just returned from battle, beaten and broken, so very lost. Her words caught in her throat as she looked at his battle worn expression. Before her eyes, Seto began to compose himself, he was back to the arrogant duelist as he looked at her with now distant eyes.

"You do realize you're wearing white and you're wet." Kaiba sneered as he brushed past her through the door.

Alice flushed crimson as she did a quick survey of her own figure, finding that what he said was accurate. Mortified, Alice ran past him and flung her backpack and grocery bags onto the island in the kitchen and flew up the stairs. She returned a few minutes later face still pink, but with a thin gray sweater on and no shoes.

Kaiba had made himself at home, leaning casually against the island where she'd thrown everything. She was about to make a smart remark about him getting her floor all wet, when she saw the contents of her grocery bag scattered across the counter top. The bandages, suture kit, disinfectants, pain killers, and worst of all the tie, lay bare for the world to see. She didn't care if he saw her shampoo, but the other stuff was kind of privet. With forced calmness, Alice reached out and began to put everything back in the bag.

"Are you planning on fighting a small war?" Kaiba quipped as he picked up one of the wraps from the counter.

"You don't fight a war with bandages," Alice remarked tiredly, "You recover with them."

Kaiba's eyes narrowed as he placed the wrap back on the island, "Is there cause for you to recover?"

Alice's hand froze in midair as she reached for another bottle of painkillers. She fisted the hand at her side and continued collecting everything on the island without responding.

Annoyed at her silence, Kaiba clenched his jaw and walked around to stand next to her. She continued what she was doing without so much as glancing at him, her eyes down on the table. Kaiba was frustrated, he hated being ignored, especially by her. Without thinking, he gripped her chin in his hand and tilted her head so she was looking at him. He was surprised to see that her eyes were just as cold as his, but he was determined to get an answer. "Is there something you're trying to recover from?" Kaiba repeated through clenched teeth.

Alice's lower lip trembled slightly, as if she were about to answer his question, but then she pressed them into a thin line and looked away. Kaiba growled angrily and tightened his grip on her chin, causing her to flinch in pain. Surprised, Kaiba released her and turned away trying to compose himself. He heard her begin to pick up items again and for some reason that just made him angrier. Kaiba turned back to her and really looked at her. If she wouldn't answer him then he would just find out for himself. And that was when he saw it.

What he'd first assumed was just flushed skin from the cold, he now realized was more purple than pink. It was light, barely there really, but from his experience with Mokuba and his "friends", Kaiba knew it was the marker of a bruise forming. More gently than before, Kaiba grabbed Alice's wrist and spun her to face him. He put his hands on her shoulders and leaned down so he was at eye level with her. She started to pull away from him, but he kept his hold on her, more cautious now that he knew she was injured.

"Talk to me." Kaiba commanded as he looked into her emerald eyes.

Alice's lips thinned again, but she continued to look at him, like she was searching for something. Kaiba was getting desperate, he needed to know what had happened to her. He moved his hand to her face and pushed the bangs out of her eyes, revealing that the wound from the elevator had reopened. Kaiba's eyes widened when he saw this, his hand relaxing on Alice's shoulder, giving her enough slack to pull away. If Alice had looked into his eyes for even a second longer, she was sure that she would have spilled all her secrets. Alice busied herself, placing the last of her supplies back into the bag when she heard Kaiba sigh shakily.

"Ra, Alice would you just look at me." Kaiba said hoarsely as he started to reach out to her again, but stopped himself. "Please say something."

Hesitantly, Alice turned to face Kaiba exasperated. It seemed that he wasn't going to give up unless she said something. If she wasn't so tired she might have thought of something else to say besides, "I got into a fight."

Kaiba's eyes narrowed but he kept the doubt out of his voice, "What was it about?"

Alice laughed without humor, "Work. I had a disagreement with someone."

"It looks like it was more than a disagreement." Kaiba stated sharply.

"It wasn't." Alice replied in the same tone.

Kaiba shook his head and decided to ask one of the other questions that he had formed since he saw her. "Fine. What was with your all white thing? Isn't there some law against wearing white after Labor Day?" Kaiba asked, attempting to improve her rotten mood, though he had no idea why.

Alice crossed her arms defiantly, "Ever heard of Halloween, Mr. I-Never-Have-Any-Fun."

Kaiba raised an eyebrow in surprise, and then smirked as he said, "I never pegged you for the begging type."

Rolling her eyes Alice replied as civilly as possible, "There's a lot you don't know about me." _What possessed me to say that? _She thought critically. _I need to get him out of my house before I say too much._

"So if you were dressed up for Halloween, what were you suppose to be?" Kaiba asked only mildly interested.

"A Shadow." Alice replied without thinking. Kaiba stiffened.

"What?"

_Too late. _She wanted to facepalm, but resisted the urge. "I was dressed as a Shadow," Alice repeated, trying to sound nonchalant and wondering if she succeeded.

"But you were wearing all white." He clarified, obviously confused.

"Not all Shadows are dark." Alice said, repeating Aeris' words from earlier by the church.

Alice picked up the last item off the counter, trying very hard not to blush as she turned to hand it to Kaiba. "Here," she said as she put the tie in his hand. "I figure I owe you a new one since I umm, ruined your other one."

Kaiba's mouth pulled down ever so slightly at the corner, but he took the tie from her without a sneering comment. An uncomfortable silence followed the exchange as Kaiba frowned at her and Alice figured this was the best chance to get away from his probing questions.

"Well it is late," Alice said stating the obvious, "And I would really like to get some sleep. I'd say it was nice seeing you," she continued as she started walking toward the front door, hoping he would follow. "But then I'd have to wash my mouth out with soap." Kaiba had indeed followed her to the door, feeling a small victory she opened the door for him to leave. But he just stood there, looking at her with those penetrating blue eyes. "This is your cue to go home," Alice said as sweetly as she could.

Kaiba's frown deepened as he looked down at her. She began to squirm uncomfortably under his stare, but she tried her best not to let it show. Kaiba's eyebrows pulled together in frustration, as if he were thinking very hard. Then just as quickly as it had come, the frustrated look was gone and his trademark smirk was back in place. "I just have one more question," he said smoothly.

"Do I have to answer?" Alice asked, her annoyance seeping into her voice.

Kaiba ignored her inquiry, "Where are your parents?" Alice froze visibly but said nothing as he continued to watch her. "I've been over to your house twice now, and I've never seen anyone else."

"I fired my maid and cook today." Alice answered quietly.

"That's not what I mean," Kaiba said shaking his head, staring at the ground to redirect his irritation. "Where is your caretaker? The person who is meant to make sure you get fed and that you get home on time."

"I fired my maid and cook today." She repeated, just as quietly as before.

"No wonder you're hurt, you don't have responsible parents." Kaiba mused angrily, not really absorbing her words. "They probably work all hours of the day and hardly have time for their own child. All parents are the same these days, worthless and unconcerned. The way I see it you'd be better off without…" Kaiba finally realized what she'd been saying. She hadn't been trying to change the subject, she'd been giving him his answer. _I fired my maid and cook today, _Kaiba thought repeating the words in his head, and he made the connection. _Oh no._

He finally looked at Alice and he stopped breathing. She had her hands fisted at her side, no longer holding the door. Her jaw was clenched, her nostrils flared, and her eyes were shining wet, the emerald flames flickering more dangerously than he'd ever seen before. _She's an orphan. _Kaiba thought numbly, _and everything I just said–_

"Get out." She growled as the tears in her eyes began to spill over for the third time today, revealing her humiliating tendency to cry when she's angry.

Kaiba suddenly felt like he was choking, "Alice," he said softly, his voice full of the empathy she didn't want.

**"I said get out!"**Alice snarled as she let Aeris take control, her eyes glowing ever so slightly in her rage.

Kaiba blinked several times, then moved past her with his jaw clenched like her's. "Whatever you say, Porter," he snapped as he slammed the door behind him.

_He has no right to be angry!_ Alice thought crossly as she locked the door behind him and stormed into her kitchen. She grabbed the grocery bag quickly, almost spilling the contents and headed for the stairs.

_**"He's only concerned for you,"**_ Aeris commented as Alice took the stairs two at a time.

"Hardly." Alice scoffed out loud, flinging the door to her room open and flicking on the light. _Just give me some time alone, _Alice begged.

**"**_**As you wish."**_ Alice knew better than to think Aeris was really gone, but she did wish she had thought about asking for so time alone sooner. Mechanically, Alice undressed and took a shower, careful not to rub her new bruises or open cuts too hard. When she was done, she stood in front of her bathroom mirror and began to disinfect and stitch up the cut on her forehead, bandaging it again afterward. She then applied some muscle relaxing lotion onto her neck, which she knew would be sore in the morning. With that she slipped into bed, and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

_~~~DFAD~~~_

_I smell grass,_ Alice thought lazily as she began to come to her senses. She stiffened slightly, _and something burning!_

She jumped to her feet and gasped when she realized where she was. _I'm at the Lake of Shadows? _Alice thought in confusion, momentarily forgetting about the burning smell. _But I didn't use the card._

There was something different about the Lake of Shadows today, the fog that it normally emitted was being pulled back into it by some unseen force. The usual phenomenon of glistening water was gone, the water was a deep black, bubbling like a witch's brew. The normally lush green grass, was a burnt gray color, looking like a scar instead of a meadow. That was when Alice realized what was really different; she wasn't physically at the Lake of Shadows like all the times before, she was simply dreaming of the place, _very inaccurately though._

Alice decided that she might as well make the most of this strange dream, so she began to walk toward the strange water to see if she could figure out what was wrong with it. Her white heels glided over the grass, not sinking in like they should be. Alice realized she was wearing her "Halloween" outfit from earlier, and rolled her eyes at the idea. _At least it's dry here, _she thought humbly.

She was close to the water's edge when she saw it, an object rising from the lake. Pausing, Alice tilted her head to the side as she watched what looked like a tan stone begin to break the surface of the black water. The stone's color and texture looked vaguely familiar to her, she squinted her eyes in concentration trying to figure out what it could be. There were markings all over it, in a language she had seen before… a picture language. Alice paled when she realized what the language was, and what the stone was supporting.

As the stone rose the rest of the way out of the lake, it stopped, as if floating on the water by some sort of magic. Alice fell to her knees, eyes wide as she looked at what could only be the Millennium tablet. But it wasn't the tablet that had brought her to her knees, but what was chained to it.

In the middle of a black lake, in the world of her dreams, chained to the tablet, looking broken and bloody, scarred and defiled, shirtless with his eyes burning with enough ice to freeze Ra himself, was Seto. Suddenly, Alice saw the two glowing white and gold wings protruding gracefully out of his back. It hurt her eyes to look at them they were so brilliant, they looked flawless compared to the rest of him. Alice's throat was thick as she looked at the injured state of Seto. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, and his head snapped up to look at her, like he could sense her.

His face twisted into a look of rage as he struggled against his chains, his eyes locked on Her. "You did this to me!" He snarled.

"No," Alice said shaking her head, "I couldn't have. I never would!"

Seto laughed bitterly as he began to snap the chains that bound him. "You lied, little Alice," he mocked, the black water under him freezing. "You lied."

"What did I lie about?" She begged in confusion, her fingers digging into the ashy dirt.

Seto broke the last of the chains and landed on the now frozen black ice. He began to walk toward her, with his arms outstretched to the sides, blue electricity glowing around him. Stopping directly in front of her, he barred his teeth at her, "All Shadows are dark!"

Alice felt herself shudder, she looked down and blanched when she saw that she was no longer wearing white, but the Shadow's black cloak. The ground around her began to give way, purple and gray lava began to bleed out of the earth. She couldn't move, she was frozen by Seto's icy glare. The lava began to burn her skin, melting her flesh, causing her to scream out in pain. "Help me!" She gasped, gazing at Seto desperately, her hand outstretched to him, "Please!"

"This is what you deserve, Shadow." Seto said as he took a step away from her outstretched hand in disgust. The wings that looked so right on him spread out, causing the blue electricity to pulse outward, melting the frozen black lake. He then fell beneath the bubbling water, with Alice still screaming in pain. And the dream went on…

_~~~DFAD~~~_

Kaiba was still in a rotten mood when he pulled up to his mansion, slamming the door to his Arash AF10 and not caring if that caused any damage. Not only had he lost control and almost ended up showing Alice he might actually care about her, but he also screwed any chances of her ever trusting him again. He should have made the connection sooner and then kept his mouth shut. He'd known about Alice firing her staff, one of them was still there when he showed up at her house. Her dark brown eyes and pleading voice stuck with him…

_~~~DFAD~~~_

_"Is Alice home?" Kaiba asked the kind looking woman who was closing the front door._

_She turned around, obviously surprised to see him. Her eyes narrowed when she realized who he was, but Kaiba was use to that sort of reaction to him. "She is not 'ome at the moment, signore Kaiba. I can not let you wait inside, for I 'ave been fired you see." Then she walked up to him, looking him the eye like she was appraising him. "She will be 'ome soon," the woman continued, "But I must ask a favor of you first."_

_Kaiba raised an eyebrow in surprise, "Oh really?"_

_The elder woman nodded solemnly, "I am afraid yes. Can you 'elp 'er? Please. For I am no longer able to." Without waiting for a response the woman walked away, got into her car, and drove off. Confused, Kaiba sat down on Alice's porch, puzzled over the woman's strange words._

_~~~DFAD~~~_

Kaiba certainly couldn't help Alice now, not after upsetting her like that. He still wasn't even positive about what he was supposed to help her with.

"How'd it go big brother?" Mokuba asked cheerfully, turning away from the TV to watch him come in. "Did you find her? Is Alice okay?"

Kaiba paused momentarily to consider Mokuba's questions, then continued walking as he replied in clipped sentences over his shoulder, "She was at home, she'll be fine. I'm going to bed, you should too."

Mokuba stared after his brother confused and worried, but it looked like that was all he was going to get from Seto tonight. Muttering under his breath, Mokuba turned off the TV and stalked upstairs. He hated that Seto hadn't let him tag along to go see Alice, but then again Seto hadn't ever been good at sharing.

[_A/N: I want to apologize for taking so long. I won't bore you with my sob story, but if you care to know why it's been taking me so long to write drop me a PM and I'll be happy to answer. And __seethetruth, I let you down and you might not want to read anymore because of it, but that's alright. I understand. Anyway kids, you know the drill! Review please, because hearing from you always makes my day…even when y'all don't always say the nicest things ;)_ ]


	17. Sharing

***Disclaimer*** (As time goes on, I grow tired of saying I don't own "Yu-Gi-Oh!". Do you think the lawyers understand by now?)

**Chapter 17 – Sharing**

The ride to Kaiba Corp. seemed longer and more unbearable today than it normally would have. Perhaps it was because of the slick and icy roads filled with snow. Or maybe it was that the coffee machine in the mansion had suddenly broken, and even though Mokuba swears it wasn't his fault, he somehow knew it was. No, it was none of those things, and that bothered Kaiba.

What really caused the ride to Kaiba Corp. to be so downright unpleasant was all due to a small but fiery nymph with brunette hair and emerald eyes. Kaiba couldn't help but torment himself when he thought about the way her eyes had seemed to glow with rage and hurt. It was his fault, and he felt sorry that he had caused her pain.

He felt sorry. That was new. Kaiba hadn't felt sorry when he took over Kaiba Corp. from Gozaburo, leaving him with nothing. He hadn't felt sorry when he threatened suicide to get Yugi to forfeit their duel. He hadn't felt sorry when he found out that he had taken _everything_ away from Noah Kaiba. He hadn't felt sorry when he fired a pregnant woman for spilling coffee on the Kaiba Corp. supercomputer. And he certainly didn't feel sorry about rejecting fangirls harshly. But did he feel sorry when he hurt Alice? Well I would think it'd be obvious. And it annoyed him.

"Goodmorning sir, I didn't expect to see you until later this evening." Tabatha said as she looked up from her desk to see Kaiba stepping out of the elevator. Honestly Kaiba didn't remember getting out of his limo, let alone riding the elevator, but Kuriboh be damned if he was going to let his secretary know he was losing his mind.

Kaiba grunted as he walked past her desk and pushed open the doors to his office. Without looking behind him, Kaiba knew Tabatha would be faithfully following him into the room with a pen and a notepad. He sat down in his leather chair and stared at her expectantly. When she said nothing he barked, "Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to do your job?"

Tabatha didn't jump, and to her credit she didn't even flinch, she simply gave him a warm smile he might not have deserved and began filling him in on everything that was going on. The power was thankfully back on, which meant that the fire walls and security systems were back online. All elevators were now functioning perfectly, after the "incident" that happened Sunday night. The projects that had been started and had been postponed were started once again.

"Oh and sir," Tabatha said as she paused at the door, "Creevin has the top duelist report you requested."

A little while later and Kaiba was back in his limo, sitting on the smooth leather seat grimacing down at the black folder in his hands. Without opening it, he somehow knew that it wouldn't make him happy. He had a theory about who the top duelists were now, but he wasn't particularly thrilled to find out if he was right or not. Opening the folder he saw five pictures on the first page, and paused numbly as he registered the order, jaw locking as he read.

_I was right,_ he thought lividly as he clutched the folder tightly in his right hand.

He couldn't get his door open fast enough when his limousine pulled into the school. It seemed, ironically enough, that today fate was on his side. He watched for a moment as the object of his anger, confusion, and several boyish fantasies slipped and stumbled on the icy pavement. Watching Alice struggle to stay upright, Kaiba was finding it difficult to continue on with his plan. But he needed information, and nothing, not even his bizarre reactions to her, was going to stop him today.

Walking briskly toward her, he grabbed her by the elbow and began dragging her into the school. He was surprised when she didn't protest, more surprised when she didn't fight back, and stunned that she wasn't making jokes about him sexually harassing her. But what really floored him was the look in her eyes when they were finally alone in an empty classroom.

Rage. It gave him pause. Her eyes were brimming with untapped rage. Her lips were pressed thinly together into a line, a hard scowl like no other graced her normally soft features. And there was something else within her green eyes, floating just beneath the surface. Pain. The look on her face was familiar to him, but he couldn't place it. _Why is she angry, _Kaiba thought perplexed, _I'm supposed to be…_ _shit! Oh, shit! How could I forget about that?_

"Are you going to say something after dragging me in here? Or did you just want to stare at me." Alice sneered, eyes glinting maliciously. She knew she was letting her emotions control her, but at the moment she didn't care.

Kaiba straightened up, realizing that he should be talking already. "I wanted to speak with you about something."

Alice huffed and looked down at the floor sadly, "Yeah well I've got nothing to say to you."

"Well I have several things to say to you." Kaiba informed her as his hand tightened around the folder. He knew what he'd have to do before he could get answers from her. But he didn't enjoy the idea in the least.

"Well go on then if you must," Alice said looking up at him, her eyes still hard.

Kaiba grunted and ground his teeth together. This wasn't supposed to be so difficult. Yugi and his geek squad do it all the time. Why is it that he finds it so impossible? He could just say two words, two words and he could move on to his questions. But the syllables wouldn't form on his tongue.

"That's it, I'm out of here." Alice snapped as she turned on her heels and started to walk past him. She jumped slightly and then scowled when Kaiba stopped her by grabbing her wrist.

"What I said last night was uncalled for. If I had known…" he paused at a loss of what to say, then sighed heavily. "If I had known, I would never have said those things." Kaiba looked into her eyes, hoping that what he said had made some difference, but the anger and hurt within them still remained.

"If that's all–" Alice began as she started to pull away.

"It's not." Kaiba said dryly as he held her wrist tighter. If she wasn't going to forgive him now, then he doubted he'd get answers. So he would give her the one thing he could, time. Kaiba shoved the black folder into Alice's hand, waiting until she finally looked back up at him to speak, so she could hear every word with perfect clarity.

"When you do have something to say to me," he paused and then smirked suddenly, repeating the words he'd said to her in the elevator, "Know that I want to know."

Kaiba was pleased when he saw her eyes soften ever so slightly, her lips hinting at hidden amusement. She nodded and he let go of her wrist, letting her walk out of the classroom and into the now crowded hallway.

Running a hand through his hair, he sighed heavily again. He was not a patient person, but desperate times call for unconventional measures.

Kaiba watched her throughout the day, purely to see if she was going to give him answers of course. While he was watching her at lunch he noticed something odd. She seemed different. Obviously she was more tired than she had ever been before. But she was also jumpy. Whenever someone would come up behind her or there was a sudden noise she would flinch and all the color would drain from her face. But there was something else, he couldn't pinpoint what the exact difference was… but it was almost like she was distancing herself from everyone, namely him.

She even looked different. Her hair was in a ponytail, her small red ribbon tying her chocolate brown tresses loosely in place. It shouldn't matter how she looked; that her uniform was wrinkled and un-pressed, that her hair was messy, that she had bags under her eyes, and that her eyes looked sad constantly now. But it did. Kaiba was surprised that no one in the geek squad, not even Wheeler who claimed to be like her brother, noticed these things.

Kaiba didn't like waiting at all, but it seemed that he had no choice now. But the waiting became too much for him on Friday. It had been three days, and she still hadn't so much as looked at him. He might have been able to stand it for a while longer if Duke hadn't been, well Duke.

It was lunch again, the last day of the week. The geek squad sat at their normal table outside, Kaiba leaned leisurely against the same tree he always did, pretending to be hard at work on his laptop. That is, until Duke's obnoxious voice broke through his mental shield.

"Just one date! I know you're _dying_ to after you spent time with me at the movies!"

Kaiba looked over the top of his computer, and suppressed a groan. Duke had Alice's hand cradled in his own, his eyes practically begging her to agree. Yugi was trying to hold Joey in place so he wouldn't throttle Duke.

"I spent time with _everyone_ at the movies," Alice stressed as she pulled her hand from his grasp and began to stand up.

"Then spend some time with just me," Duke pleaded as he shifted closer to her on the seat and grasped her wrist.

"I really don't think that's a good idea," she said, pulling her arm away from Duke uncomfortably.

"Can't I be the judge of that," he countered stubbornly, then his eyes lit up and he added, "Please!"

For some reason, Alice's eyes shifted away from Duke and to the one solitary tree in the entire school grounds. It was the first time in days she'd looked at him. Kaiba's sapphire blue eyes met her emerald green ones, and he saw defiance flash within her's before she turned to Duke.

"Alright, but only this once." Duke jumped out of his seat in his joy, nearly knocking over some poor freshman girl. Joey was staring at them with disbelief in his eyes, Téa's expression mirrored his. Duke rushed off to go make "preparations" for that night as Joey whirled on Alice.

"Ya know ya didn't haveta say yes ta him." He said as they gathered their trash because the bell had just rung.

"You know Joey," Alice said as she looked over at Kaiba who was still sitting against the tree stunned, "I kinda did."

_What in the name of all that's good and sane does that mean! _Kaiba fumed as he slammed his laptop shut and rose to his feet. _What is she thinking? Is she trying to make me jealous, because it won't work. Not at all!_

_~~~DFAD~~~_

Alice slammed her head down on her desk with unnecessary force. "What the heck am I thinking," she mumbled mutely into her arms. The rest of the school day, time moved unbearably slow. She could feel Kaiba's eyes glaring holes into her, but she dared not turn her head to look. Alice felt damn guilty for what she was doing, but it was for the best… wasn't it? Besides, she was furious with him for what he'd said. But if she was being honest with herself, she'd forgiven him Tuesday morning, when he'd tried to apologize. Now she was just scared, scared stiff. She didn't want to have the conversation she knew was coming, and maybe if she just ignored him he'd go away. Yeah right.

It was a miracle when the school bell finally rang signifying the end of the day. Everyone rushed out of the building, excited to get their weekend started. Alice agreed to meet Duke at Domino Park at four, and as she watched him walk away she had the urge to yell after him that she had changed her mind, but she kept her mouth shut.

Alice opened her locker with a small sigh, staring down at all the text books and binders that cluttered it. She just stood there, staring into her locker, standing slightly to the side as all the students filed out of the school. She should be hurrying to get home, but she was feeling oddly reluctant.

Just then her locker slammed shut. Alice looked up automatically, and she saw a wide, male hand splayed across the painted metal in front of her. Gulping rather theatrically, she turned, following the hand to the arm it was attached to, and then up to the face. Leaning his shoulder against the locker next to hers, Kaiba stood towering over her.

"Seto," she breathed, completely caught off guard, forgetting for just a moment she was suppose to be angry with him and that she _did not_ under any circumstances call him by his first name, at least not out loud.

Kaiba smirked wickedly, "Oh, I'm Seto now am I?" He mocked, pushing off the locker and moving around her until her back was to it. He then placed his right hand next to her head, trapping her between them.

"No, well umm yes, I mean, heh," Alice mumbled as she blushed, looking down at her shoes. Then she realized how absurdly she was behaving and her chin came up defiantly. "It was a slip of the tongue, Kaiba. Believe me, it will _not_ be happening again."

She tried to duck under his arm, but as she did his other arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her back. Pressed against his chest, she glared up at him.

"Oh I think it will be happening much more often now." Kaiba said looking down at her with his all-knowing smile.

"Really now, and why's that." Alice demanded, trying desperately to remember she shouldn't like this.

"Because you're going to give me answers." He said simply as he moved forward, causing her to step back, to press against the locker. "Now. No more stalling, no more waiting." With every word he moved closer to her, until he was plastered against her lithe frame. He took his right hand off the locker and gripped her chin, as he leaned down so he was eye level with her. "I want to know everything."

"Ka..Kaiba, I think you–" Alice started but he cut her off before she could say that he should really give her some space.

"I'm not Kaiba anymore, Porter." Kaiba said as he rested his other hand on her hip, and pulled her closer. "I don't want to hear anything leave your lips unless it's answers to my questions."

"But," She tried again to speak but Kaiba placed a finger over her lips. She had to warn him. She just had to. If he kept doing what he was there wasn't a doubt in her mind about how she'd react. And that scared her.

"I am dead serious this time, Alice." She trembled when he said her name. His eyes seemed to glaze over at her reaction. She knew she should be embarrassed, but for some reason she felt hot. Like every nerve ending in her body had electricity scorching through it. She couldn't remember why she had been angry, why she should be trying to flee. All she could think was that she was losing control of her own body.

She tried a final time to warn him, her mouth moving despite the finger on her lips, "Kaiba, please if you don't let go of me–"

"If I don't let go of you, what?" He asked, his breath fanning her face, causing her eyes to flutter shut. She quickly opened them again to see him smiling at her smugly. He moved the finger on her mouth ever so slightly, brushing first her top and then her bottom lip. He trailed his hand down her neck, causing her to shiver, before finally placing it at the back of her neck.

She knew what she'd have to do to get him to back away, to give her the space she needed, and that saddened her. From the stolen moments she had with him, she knew that the closer she tried to get, the farther away he seemed to pull away. All those times he would catch her unconsciously when she was about to fall, or when he would do something nice and not realize it, and even when she would lean toward him like she wanted to kiss him; he would always, without fail, pull away from her, like he was angry he'd shown any signs of caring. And that was the key, to disgust him so much that he pulled away.

Eyes smoldering, Alice grabbed the front of his school blazer with both hands. Kaiba's head jerked back as he registered the look in her eyes, a look that he wore far too often around her himself. His hands immediately dropped from both her hip and neck, as if he had been burned. But it was too late. Alice rose up on her toes and pressed her lips against his in a rough kiss. Kaiba's hands back at his sides clinched into fists, but Alice didn't notice. She was moving her mouth desperately against his, her eyes tightly shut. Her hands went from clutching his jacket to lying limply against his chest.

Alice pulled her lips off his and whispered in his ear heatedly, "I warned you Kaiba."

Even though it was with Seto, it still killed a fragile part of her to use her first kiss as a sort of punishment. She started to pull back with barely concealed hurt in her eyes, when suddenly his hands were on her again. He wrapped them expertly around her waist and hoisted her up, pinning her against the lockers hard. Alice let out a quick gasp of shock and then squeaked when she felt his lips press against her exposed neck hungrily.

She knew she should be fighting him off, that's why she had kissed him, to get him to leave her alone. And it had worked too, but not long enough. It had somehow made it worse, so much worse, and yet so much better. She couldn't push him away, she was trying. But her hands weren't listening to her anymore. They slid up his chest and then tangled in his rich bronze locks, holding him to her as he continued to kiss her neck fiercely. If she couldn't stop him, maybe he could stop himself, she had to try something.

_But this feels sooooo good, _Alice thought in a daze, _I've never felt anything like this before_. No. She had to try just one more time.

"Kaiba," she moaned out. His lips paused there assault on her skin for a second, as if absorbing what she had just done. She could feel him smiling against her neck. Embarrassed by her tone of voice, Alice cleared her throat and tried again, "Kaiba, we're still in school. I don't think we should be – oh Ra," she sighed airily as Kaiba ran his tongue lightly up her neck, like he was tasting her. Then he grazed his teeth just under her ear, causing her to shudder.

He chuckled deeply in response, moving his lips to her ear as he whispered in a rough voice, "Oh I think we should Alice, I _really _think we should. I'm done holding back."

His lips crashed with hers before she could form a response. This kiss was different from what she had started earlier. Different because his lips were the ones moving desperately against hers while she held onto him transfixed. His tongue brushed against her bottom lip, demanding entrance. Her brain was still a muddled haze of confusion; indecision freezing her. But Kaiba planned to make her respond.

With his lips still melded passionately with hers, Kaiba brought his right hand down from her hip, sliding it to her butt and squeezed. Alice gave an audible gasp against his lips, allowing Kaiba to slip his tongue into her mouth. And suddenly it was like Alice's body was responding on its own, her legs wrapped tighter around his waist and she kissed him back; their tongues dancing together in a war for dominance. Her hands ran through his hair as she devoured his every groan. Kaiba's other hand slid up the inside of her exposed thigh, pushing her skirt father up, causing a trail of goosebumps to form and a moan to escape from her lips. Kaiba didn't know how much longer he could take this wonderful torture, but it seemed Alice needed to breathe so he moved his lips back to her neck and was rewarded with another breathy moan.

"Do you have any idea what you're doing to me," Kaiba growled into her ear, breathing just as heavily as she was. The sound of her labored breathing restarted the burning fire within him and he bit her neck again ever so slightly.

"Mmmm Seto," she sighed, letting her head fall back against the hard metal. He chuckled low in his throat and placed light kisses against her skin. Alice continued to breathe deeply, enjoying the feel of his lips against her sensitive skin. She loved the way he was pressed intimately against her, how he was supporting her weight against the locker.

_Against the locker… _Alice repeated in her head. There was something off with that thought, but what. And did she care? Seto brought his nose down to her collarbone and inhaled deeply, his hair brushing against her cheek, causing her to giggle.

Seto chuckled in response, "And to think, you wanted to stop because we were in school." He started to kiss her collarbone then, his kisses getting lower and lower.

"Mhmmm," Alice sighed dreamily in response, before his words sank in.

They were in school. They were in a public school. They were in a public school and they'd been making out like two rabbits in heat! Alice's senses returned to her and she took her hands out of his hair and placed them on his shoulders, trying to push him back enough so she could think clearly. But it was as if her hands meant nothing, because he continued his exploration of all the exposed skin he could get to.

Reluctantly, Alice cleared her throat so her earlier mistake of moaning didn't happen again. She pushed on his shoulders again, this time he leaned back and looked her in the eyes questioningly.

She had to turn her head away from the intensity of his expression; she didn't want to see how vulnerable his eyes looked, how all his walls and pretenses were nowhere to be found. Alice was afraid if she did she'd melt back into him, because she loved what she could do to him.

"Is something wrong?" He asked, moving his hands from her butt to her lower back.

"Seto," she began hesitantly, not really knowing how to say what needed to be said without causing the coldness to reappear in his beautiful eyes. Alice was rewarded with the sweetest smile she'd ever seen. It made her heart stutter as it graced his normally emotionless face.

"I really do like it when you call me that," he said honestly as he moved his hand and brushed the hair out of her face.

Alice bit her lip, trying to hide a smile and failing. "I really like saying it," she admitted, returning his honesty. As she said this however, she unwrapped her legs from around his waist, and though it confused him, Seto let her slide down his body until her feet touched the ground. Standing again, Alice straightened her clothes and hair, then looked back up at him and touched his cheek hesitantly, caressing his skin before speaking. "We really shouldn't do this here."

Seto smirked suggestively at her, "Then shall we continue at my house?"

The blush that illuminated Alice's face made it all worth it; the anger, the confusion, even the waiting. Alice pouted cutely and took her hand off his face, holding it against her chest. "That's not what I meant… we shouldn't be doing this, period."

Seto's face hardened the instant the words left her lips. He stepped away from her scowling and ran a hand through his hair, "I should have known. See you around, Porter."

Alice gaped at him as he started striding away, then the words she'd said registered in her mind and she called out to him. But he just kept going. He was _not_ leaving her, not this time. Sprinting after him, her hair blowing out behind her, she ran as fast as she could. She slammed into his back, not bothering to slow down, causing the air to rush out of both of their lungs. She wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face in his back, causing him to stiffen.

"I am not letting you walk away again." She muttered into his blazer.

For a moment, just a moment, she thought that he would listen, that he would stay. But it wasn't so. Kaiba pried her hands off of him and continued walking toward the door. Determined, Alice ran in front of him, placing herself between him and the door, arms spread wide. He stopped with only inches between them, glaring down at her.

"You think you can stop me?" Kaiba sneered as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Alice looked down at the floor between them, slowly dropping her hands to her side as she whispered, "I'd rather not have to."

There was silence between the pair for a good minute, but to Alice it felt like eternity before anything happened.

Eventually, Kaiba stepped closer to her and with deliberate slowness he lifted her chin up so their eyes connected. His eyes were still guarded, but there was genuine confusion in them as he searched her eyes for something. Whatever it was that he saw in her eyes, it unfroze him and he gave her a weak smirk before he spoke.

"You know, you really can stop me." He said softly, "If you really wanted to, you could make me stay." Seto moved his hand to stroke her hair, "You don't have to use force, just ask me."

Alice looked at him hopefully, "Will you please stop walking away from me?"

Seto smirked as he lightly ran his fingers through her brunette tresses, "That's not what I meant Alice, and you know that, don't you?"

She did know what he meant, but just the thought of it made her feel like there was a fire spreading across her cheeks. And obviously there was, because Seto's smirk twitched in amusement. He stopped stroking her hair and placed his hand back in his pocket like his other one, but she wasn't sure why.

Alice returned her eyes to the ground as she muttered, "I don't know if I can…"

He chuckled and commented suggestively, "Just try it, you might be surprised how good you are at it."

Biting her lip tenderly, she looked back up at him to see if he was serious… he was, _damn_. She stepped closer to him, so that her chest just barely brushed against his toned torso. Moving her hands up, she gently placed them on his lower abdomen, causing his muscles to constrict and his breathing to pause.

She tried to be confident; to pretend like she did this all the time and it was no big deal, that this had no effect on her now racing heart. Briefly, her mind flashed to a time not too long ago when she'd been trying to intimidate him in the library. She would just pretend that this time was like the other, that there were no feelings behind her movements, that they were just mechanical.

But as she moved her eyes from his chiseled chest, up his smooth neck, and to his glacier colored eyes, she could tell that her eyes weren't emotionless from the expression on his face. The way he was looking at her right now was what gave her the last bit of courage she needed to grasp the back of his neck and pull him down to her lips.

Alice kissed him softly, with more caution than she used the first time. She wasn't trying to disgust him with this kiss, she was beginning to realize that he might actually like it when she touched him. And he did, and that was obvious as he returned her kiss, hands still in his pockets. Alice kissed him until she had to pull back to breath.

"Please don't walk away," she begged solemnly as she rested her head against his chest.

Seto paused only a moment before he responded, "I'll think about it."

Alice's eyes flashed to his face to see a cocky smile dominating his features. "You'll think about it?" She asked incredulously. "After all of that, your only response is you'll 'think about it'?"

He chuckled promptly and then shrugged his shoulders. "It wasn't that great. Obviously I've had better," he joked.

Scoffing, Alice shoved at his chest so that he was now a full arms length away from her. "I'm starting to wonder why I didn't just let you walk away," she grumbled.

"Naturally it's because I'm just too damn irresistible," Seto said smugly as his chest puffed up with masculine pride.

Alice rolled her eyes, "Nah, the only reason I didn't want you to walk away was because I didn't mean what I said earlier, the way I said it… you know?"

Seto sighed, his chest deflating slightly, "Yeah. I know. Well, I know now at least."

It was Alice's turn to smirk as she replied cheekily, "Do you now? And here I was thinking you were just a pretty face."

She was rewarded with a half smile that caused her to smile too, but just as soon as it had come, it was gone by his next words.

"So, are you going to tell me why I'm not the world's second ranked duelist anymore?"

Alice sighed, "I want to tell you, really, but not right now. Can you understand that?"

Seto stared down at her with a blank expression, "I'm not good at waiting."

"Yeah, I hadn't noticed," she said sarcastically. "I will tell you everything, but not today. Not right now because," she grimaced a little, "I have a date, and it's a long story."

Seto returned her grimace with one of his own, "You could always ditch Devlin and come with me."

"I could," she replied with a sideways smile, "But that would be rude."

"And we just can't have that, can we." Seto remarked dryly.

"No, _we_ can't." Alice said with a giddy smile, "But I'll see you later, Seto."

Alice walked away with a quickened pace before he could say anything else that could cause her to stay. She clutched her bag as she hurried down the school steps. There was no time to stop at home now, it was nearly four.

_~~~DFAD~~~_

Seto stood in the hallway, his hands clenched into fists once more. He hadn't gotten any answers, not to any of the questions he'd asked, not to the questions he didn't know he had. She kept dancing around the borders, never giving him what he wanted.

He chuckled then, his hands relaxing at his side. That wasn't entirely true, she had given him one thing he'd wanted, needed, desperately. Seto knew for a fact now that she was attracted to him, maybe even as much as he was attracted to her. He refused to admit that there was anything there besides that attraction, but he was still very pleased with her responses.

_She kissed me first,_ he thought with amusement as he wandered toward the door. He remembered the look in her eyes right before it happened, how surprised he was, and how he realized that he had pushed her too far. He hadn't wanted to get close to her, not in the beginning, but when her lips pressed against his that all melted away. He had to hold himself back then, let her lead, because she seemed almost sad as she kissed him. The warm pressure of her lips was almost too much for him, the feel of them like silk and satin.

It took him a moment to realize that his phone was ringing, that it had been ringing for a while now.

"Kaiba." He answered without looking at the number.

"Yes, that's me," responded the voice, sounding amused, "Nice job using the caller id, Seto."

Seto let out a sigh to clear his head, "Mokuba, you should work on your jokes. They're not very good."

"You're one to talk big brother," Mokuba said cheerfully, then he cleared his throat. "I called to see if Alice came to school today. I really want to swing by her house and–"

"What part of 'leave her alone' don't you understand?" He demanded angrily as he stepped into his limo.

"The alone part, I just don't get the concept," Mokuba joked cheekily. "Seriously Seto, was she at school today?"

"Yeah kid," he said as he ran a hand through his tousled hair. "She was at school today. But she won't be home until later, she has…" Seto broke off suddenly, a plan forming in his mind.

"She has what?" Mokuba asked, sounding antsy. "Seto? You still there, bro?"

"I'm here." Seto answered, letting a smirk spread across his handsome features. "And I have a job for you, Mokuba."

_~~~DFAD~~~_

Alice got to Domino Park about six minutes after four, with sweat in her hair despite the cold weather. Her hair was beginning to fall out of its ribbon, and she was sure that her nose was probably red as well. Even though in her mind this wasn't a real date, she still felt sorry about showing up late and in the state she was in. She spotted Duke's gaudy car instantly and headed toward it eagerly. Yes, she was so eager to get into his car… and finally be able to feel her fingers again.

Duke got out dressed in black slacks, a black long sleeved button up shirt, and a red tie that hung loose around his neck, contrasting with his bright green eyes. He hurried around the car's front and opened the door for her while looking her up and down. When he got back in the car he seemed disappointed, but commented civilly about her looking good in anything. She returned his complement and instantly regretted it when he started smugly listing off how much each item cost, where he got it, who got it for him, and blah blah blah. Alice was naturally a polite person, but even she had her limits.

When they pulled up to an expensive looking restaurant called Le Monstre D'ombre, Alice truly began to regret trying to push Seto away; especially since it was pointless now. She started to take her bag out of the car, but Duke said that she needn't do that. Her evening was beginning to look rather dreary, but thankfully her mind was wandering just enough that time seemed to pass quickly. They were seated, ordered their drinks and food, and were eating in almost no time at all. Duke had ordered a bottle of wine for their table, and though Alice's glass had been filled, it sat there untouched. He didn't make any comment about her not drinking it and it could have almost been pleasant, that is until Duke pointed out with a mouth full of fettucini alfredo that someone they knew had just walked into the restaurant.

"Hey babe, don't we know that girl?" Alice scowled at the word "babe" but looked to the door anyway, then did a double take at the two girls who had entered. _Mikaila? And… Scarlet!?_ Alice thought as panic froze her, fork in midair. Duke, unobservant to Alice's shock and horror commented, "That girl with her looks familiar too… I didn't sleep with her, did I?" He asked seemingly to himself.

Alice responded anyway as a way to distract herself, "How should I know. I'll be back Duke," he looked at her confused and she continued, "Ladies' room."

Duke nodded as his eyes drifted back to the two black haired girls who were moving in eerie unison through the restaurant. Quickly standing, Alice darted through the tables as swiftly as possible without knocking anything over or attracting the girls' attention. In the bathroom, Alice braced herself against the counter and stared into her confused and fearful eyes in the mirror.

_How do they know each other? There's no way Mikaila is a Shadow… right? _Alice fretted, _are they here for me or is this a coincidence? Why would the two people I dislike the most be here together? _In Alice's mind's eye their faces appeared against the mirror, and it struck her then. Their long black hair, slim and tall figures, and downright unpleasant personalities… _It's so obvious now! They're lovers!_ Alice concluded as she scrunched her nose disdainfully trying not to picture the two people she disliked most together.

Laughter filled the confines of her mind, _**"Have you forgotten that your acquaintance Lucas is dating one of those girls?"**_

"Oh," Alice muttered aloud, "Yeah, I had forgotten." Her cheeks brightened with embarrassment as Aeris continued to laugh at her misunderstanding. After several long seconds of listening to the sound Alice interjected, "It's an honest mistake!"

_**"****Honest is one thing it is surly not child,"**_ Aeris informed her with mirth, _**"Care to try again?"**_ she asked as she forced her thoughts into Alice's head.

Once again the faces of the two girls appeared against the reflective surface in front of Alice, and somehow with Aeris now more present she understood instantly. "They're related… sisters maybe, cousins at the least."

_**"****Very good," **_Aeris commented with only slight sarcasm, _**"Now, are you going to hide in here all day or go and confront your inner demons."**_

Muttering under her breath about her only inner demon being Aeris herself, Alice pushed the door open and strode purposefully back toward her and Duke's table… only to hesitate when she saw Mikaila and Scarlet had pulled up chairs to the table and were talking animatedly with Duke. Alice felt as if a rain cloud were comically floating around her head as she plopped down in her chair in between Scarlet and Mikaila.

Both black haired girls stopped drooling over Duke when they heard the legs of Alice's chair scrap across the linoleum and turned to face her. Mikaila's expression twisted into an angry scowl, while Scarlet's became a wicked grin and her eyes glinted malevolently.

"Duke," Mikaila whined, flipping her thin black and blue streaked hair over her shoulder. "You said you were here with a girl from our school, not _Porter_."

Duke laughed good naturedly and replied, "She is a girl, and she's in our class. Besides, didn't you know it was her already?"

"Yeah I guessed right." Mikaila grumbled under her breath. "I just couldn't believe it."

An uncomfortable silence filled the air as Duke continued to eat – staring occasionally at each girl; only Ra knows what was going on in his head. Mikaila glared at Alice, Scarlet twirled her tightly curled hair mischievously, and Alice tried not to fidget out of discomfort. She had just started eating again when Scarlet broke the silence.

"So… Porter was it? I thought you were having a fling with Seto Kaiba, what are you doing here with Duke?"

Alice began to choke slightly on her food, but managed to avoid a major scene by washing it down with water. The color was still high in her cheeks when she replied, "I don't know what you mean…"

"Liar," Mikaila muttered viciously under her breath.

Scarlet leaned a little over the table, causing her cleavage to spill out of her top and Duke to immediately begin ogling. Alice felt like rolling her eyes at the display, but the penetrating gaze of Scarlet stopped her. "No, I'm almost certain that when we spoke last you said something about Seto," Scarlet taunted.

"I never said anything concerning–" Alice began, but Duke cut her off.

"You two know each other?" He asked as he looked back and forth between Alice and Scarlet's breasts.

"Of course!" "No!" came their replies at the same moment. Both Mikaila and Duke looked confused, so Alice took a big breath and amended, "We met a few days ago in the store… honestly I don't even recall her name," Alice lied, attempting to steer the conversation away from how well she _really_ knew Scarlet.

"You don't remember my name!?" Scarlet hissed, highly offended. "I go to ALL of the trouble to remember your name but you forget mine!"

_Maybe she forgot that she told me a fake name when we first met? Of course I gave her a fake name too… I wonder how long I can go without her knowing the truth,_ Alice thought devilishly.

Duke coughed pointedly, obviously annoyed that Scarlet was making such a scene in a public place, but he smiled at her flirtatiously anyway when she looked back at him. "If I may?" Duke asked politely. Scarlet nodded, though she still looked annoyed, so he continued. "This is Scarlet. She's Mikaila's older sister, and Mikaila works here which is why they ran into us. They're here to pick up Mikaila's check."

"And then we saw Duke sitting alone, and we thought what a pity that such a handsome man was here alone," Scarlet added, her voice back to its bubblegum tone. "When we heard that he was here on a _date_, and with you nonetheless, well we just had to stay to chat."

"Well we didn't _have_ to stay," Mikaila commented dryly. "I just couldn't believe that Duke was here with such an unimpressive person. I mean, just look at you! Showing up to a fancy restaurant like Le Monstre D'ombre in that, a school uniform," Mikaila wrinkled her small nose in disgust. "It doesn't even fit you properly. The skirt is WAY too long, and the jacket is HUGE! You look like a fucking rag doll, and not the cute ones either! It just doesn't make sense that all the guys pant after you like you're some kind of goddess! I mean even Seto Kaiba and Duke Devlin! I thought Seto was an intelligent person, but after seeing him chase after you," she scoffed, "It looks like his IQ might be even lower than that mutt friend of yours."

After staying silent through Mikaila's whole temper tantrum, Alice had small marks on the inside of her palm from where her nails had dug in. Sure, her clothes were big on her and her hair was falling out of its ribbon, but at least she didn't look like a skank! And that wasn't even covering what had made her the angriest. "Don't you dare talk about them that way." Alice threatened as her fists tightened under the table, knuckles cracking.

"Touchy, aren't we girl?" Scarlet mocked as she examined a nail with false interest.

Duke looked between the girls with confusion clear on his flawless face, "Are you girls fighting over me?"

"No." They all replied in unison.

But before Duke's ego could be too badly damaged, Mikaila fluttered her eyelashes, "It wouldn't be much of a fight. Why don't _we_ go out sometime together?" She leaned across the table and grabbed his tie, twirling it in her slim fingers. "Just the two of us."

Trying not to gag, Alice resisted the urge to pick up her fork and carve out her eyes, she so did not need to see this. But that reminded her, "I thought you had a thing for Seto, Renewal? Or did you just threaten me to stay away from him for fun." Alice asked her, a hard glare set on her face.

"You threatened her?" Scarlet asked her sister, genuinely surprised.

Mikaila let go of Duke's tie reluctantly, and ignoring Scarlet's question turned in her chair to face Alice.

"Yeah, I had a thing for him, I mean who wouldn't. The guy has money, power, and a damn sexy bod. But anyone who associates with lower class trash, like you, doesn't deserve anything remotely good in their life. That's the way things are in reality Porter, and the sooner you realize that and accept it, the sooner Seto can stop being a loser. You can't duel, you're a complete klutz, you're ugly, your uniform's unflattering, and all of that is starting to rub off on him. I can already see your poor stench tainting him." Mikaila finished harshly, her face reflecting that she believed every word she had spoken.

"Take that back." Alice said as calmly as she could manage.

"No, and there's not a damn thing that you can do to make me." Mikaila sneered as she picked up the roll off Alice's plate and bit into it.

"Really?" Alice challenged as she ground her teeth together.

"Really," Mikaila shrugged with a mouthful of bread.

"Then I have no choice," Alice replied sweetly as she picked up the butter knife off the napkin beside her. "I challenge you to a duel. Tomorrow, noon, you can even pick the place. If I win, you take back everything rude you've ever said about Seto and my friends. Publicly."

"Hah." Mikaila reached out and took Alice's glass of wine and took a drink to wash down the roll. "You can't even duel and you're challenging me?" She asked in-between rude fits of giggles. "Fine. I'll enjoy crushing you. Let's say we have our duel at Kaiba Land, just for laughs. But what will you do _when_ I win?" Mikaila asked as she raised the glass to her lips for another drink.

There was the sudden sound of shattering glass, and all eyes turned to face the table with the three black haired teenagers, and the one brunette. Still clenching the knife in her hand, Alice smiled pleasantly at the outraged expression on Mikaila's face. Pieces of the glass lay across the table and in Mikaila's lap. The dark red wine from the glass was soaking into Mikaila's mini skirt and pea coat; turning the white's pink, the pink's red, and the blue's, well… bluer.

Putting down the knife on the table and wiping the excess wine off her hands, Alice stood from the table, then leaned down so her mouth was next to Mikaila's ear. "_If_ you win, I'll pay for the dry-cleaning."

And with that Alice left the restaurant, hearing Mikaila scream profanity after profanity at her along the way. Before she exited the establishment, she put some money on the front podium, feeling slightly guilty for breaking one of their glasses to prove a point, even if it had been entertaining.

She could already imagine the types of stories that would be made up about the incident, how the tale would take on a new spin every time it was told. Maybe by the time the duel actually happened she would have defeated a dragon or something, because every good story needs a dragon. Maybe Mikaila could play the dragon in the tale, she certainly had the look after she got drenched in wine.

Alice had rounded about three corners before she realized she had no idea where she was walking to, so she found the nearest person and asked how to get to Domino Park. Turns out she was only about two blocks away from it, which meant that she was over halfway home.

In retrospect, perhaps getting wine all over Mikaila wasn't the brightest idea. She could picture her friend's reactions; Yugi's disappointment, Joey's approval, Téa's shock, but worst of all Seto's anger. He wouldn't be angry that she ruined Mikaila's clothes, oh no he'd probably find it just as humorous as Joey would. No, Seto would be angry because she had defended him, and also possibly because he didn't want to see her get hurt. When it came to the ramifications of her actions, it seemed that the only one that really mattered was Seto.

"Go figure." She muttered, as she cut across the grassy hill in the park. She was just about to start heading along the sidewalk out of the park when the sound of her name stopped her. Turning around a bit confused, Alice was shocked to see Mokuba running toward her up the same hill she had just climbed.

"Hey! Alice, wait up!" Mokuba yelled as he scrambled up the steep hill. It was nearly dark so he lost his footing a few times, but he eventually made it to the sidewalk next to Alice, out of breath and with mud spots on his jeans.

"Mokuba? What are you doing here at this time of night?" Alice asked as she rumpled his hair affectionately after he released her from his vicious hug.

"I was coming to see you." He stated proudly and then pouted, "You haven't been returning my calls, that's not very nice of you."

"Eh?" Alice asked confused, "You've been calling me?" She went to look in her bag for her phone… and then she realized she'd left it in Duke's car. For a moment she worried that he wouldn't come to the duel tomorrow, without her bag she didn't have a duel disk. Luckily she'd actually started wearing her red duel deck strap around her thigh, a trick she picked up from Mai, and with the long length of her skirt, no one would ever know. "Sorry! I'm horrible about checking my phone, it's normally on silent and I don't think to look. I even went and left it somewhere."

"No problem, Alice," Mokuba said as he patted her arm, "I'm here now so we're all good, do you have time to hang out with me?"

"Of course! It's the least I can do after neglecting your calls," she said sheepishly. "Why don't we head to my house since it's close so we can get out of this frosty weather?"

"Sounds like a plan to me," he replied cheerfully as he began walking in the direction of the Porter Estate. He then spun around so he was facing Alice and walking backwards. "So, what have you been up to since I last saw you?"

Alice looked at him thoughtfully before responding, "I've had a lot of school work to do, so not too terribly much. What about you?"

Mokuba scowled at her attempt to avoid further questions, but he decided he could just get her to talk about it in a roundabout way. "I've been pretty good, although I'm having umm, girl issues."

"Girl issues?" Alice asked with genuine curiosity in her voice, "Like what?"

"Well, you see," Mokuba began as he turned so he could walk next to Alice. If there was once thing he was good at it was telling a story. "There's this girl I really like in my homeroom class, but she always seems to be avoiding me," he said as he looked down at the pavement sadly.

"Oh, that seems unfair. Why do you think she's doing that?"

"I have no idea," Mokuba said sounding very annoyed, "I can't think of a reason at all. Can you think of anything?"

"Me?" Alice asked confused.

"Yeah," he replied nodding his head encouragingly, "You're a girl too, you must have some insight into these things. I trust you."

"I, I suppose I might," she mumbled, clearly flattered. "Well have you done anything to make her upset lately?"

Mokuba shook his head, "And even if I did I woulda apologized right away."

"No then. Hmm, perhaps she's trying to protect you?" Alice suggested without thinking.

"Protect me?" Mokuba asked, his male pride injured from her implication.

"Not like that," Alice sighed, "Maybe she doesn't think she deserves to be with you, so she's trying to put as much distance between the two of you as possible."

Mokuba laughed, "That sounds silly."

"Yeah, I guess it does…" she admitted as she lowered her head to try and hide her blush.

"Wait," Mokuba said as they neared Alice's house, "Where did you get that idea from?"

"Nowhere." Alice answered evasively as she walked faster up the driveway.

"Hey! I thought we were best friends! That means we share everything. I told you about my issues, why can't you tell me?" Mokuba asked, the hurt in his voice causing it to break.

"We are Mokuba," Alice said, shaking her head as she unlocked her front door and let him in. "It's just that my problems are a bit more, umm complex."

"Oh I get it." Mokuba said bitterly, "They're so complex that 'little Mokuba' can't possibly help." He grumbled as he threw himself down on Alice's couch.

"That's not what I meant," Alice complained. She sat down next to him on the tan suede material, "I just didn't want to drag you into my problems. What are you doing?"

"I'm just texting my brother to let him know I'm at a friend's house, and don't change the subject." He said as he put his phone on the coffee table in front of the couch. "Best friends are meant to be dragged into problems, Alice, that comes with the title." Mokuba said as he put his hands on her shoulders for emphasis.

Alice looked at him skeptically and asked, "You really want to know?" and Mokuba nodded once curtly in response. Sighing, Alice dropped her head a little and muttered, "Fine." Mokuba exclaimed happily and turned to face her on the couch, sitting with his legs crossed and his hands in his lap, like it was story time in kindergarten. Alice mimicked his move and sat facing him, mentally preparing herself for the upcoming discussion.

"I suppose I should start first by saying that when you saw me in the park, I had just left a date." Alice said as she ran a hand nervously through her wind tangled hair, pulling her hair out of its ribbon.

"A date?" Mokuba asked confused, and then his expression brightened. "Was it with the trench coat guy?"

"Trench coat guy?" Alice asked confused. _**"He means Seto." **_Aeris supplied dryly. "Oh!" Alice exclaimed turning red, _I can't believe he remembers that... _she thought a bit perplexed. "No, it was with another guy."

"I thought you liked the guy you borrowed the coat from?" Mokuba inquired innocently.

"I, well, I… I do." She said biting her lip. It was the first time she'd ever admitted it out loud, and she was stumbling over the idea. "I do," she repeated firmly, and then amended, "But, it's not the best thing for him, at least I thought it wasn't, so I was going to let it go."

"And by letting it go, you mean go on a date with someone else? That seems more like pretending to me," he said honestly.

"It was." Alice said hanging her head, ashamed. "I only agreed to go on a date with the other guy because the one I like was listening. I thought that if I said yes, then Se- the guy I like would think I was over him. Only, it didn't work out that way…" She confessed as she remembered back.

"What happened?" Mokuba asked eagerly, knowing this was about his brother.

"He, well he confronted me about it after school," the brunette said, the amazement of the moment coming out in her voice. "I think he may have even been jealous, which wasn't what I had intended at all," she confessed.

"Wow, it sounds like he really likes you too." he said happily.

"I think he does," Alice said as she tried to hide her smile, and failed.

"Hold on," Mokuba said as he held his hand out, as if to physically stop her, "If he confronted you after school about it, why'd you still go out with the other guy?"

"Well it'd be rude to just stand someone up after agreeing," she said indignantly. "Even if it was Duke."

"Wait, Duke? Like Duke Devlin!?" Mokuba asked, legitimately shocked for the first time.

"Yeah…" she said hesitantly, a little worried about his reaction.

"I can't believe he, I mean you," he corrected, "Didn't mention it was with him!"

"I didn't think it'd make a difference," Alice said sincerely, then added with a quizzical look, "I'm surprised you haven't asked who the person I like is."

Mokuba smiled nervously, "That was my next question, I figured I wouldn't know him so I didn't ask," he lied smoothly. "So what is the name of the guy you like?"

"Would you like some hot chocolate or something?" Alice asked evasively, "It's really cold outside, I think I'll have some too. Chocolate is always nice on a cold day, so are hot things. Maybe I should make some–"

"Alice!" He said cutting her off angrily. "You can't just bring it up and then expect not to tell me! Who is it?"

She sighed in defeat and mumbled, "Seto Kaiba."

Like the good actor he was, Mokuba's eyes got wide as if shocked, and his mouth opened and closed while no sound came out. Finally he "managed" to say, "I _knew_ that trench coat looked familiar." He then yawned loudly saying, "Okay, I could use that hot chocolate now."

"Coming right up," Alice said with a smile as she got up from the couch and went into the kitchen.

It seemed strange to her that she could find such a good friend in what had started out being a complete stranger, but then again everyone was a stranger until you got to know them. What surprised her most was how easy it was to confide in Mokuba, and how interested he was in what she had to say. Coming back to Domino, though not by her choice, was one of the best things that had happened to her recently.

Alice was still deep in thought when she came back into her living room with two cups of hot chocolate, only to find Mokuba curled in a ball and fast asleep on her couch. She put the hot chocolate down on the table and debated what she should do next. If it wasn't for the fact that it was cold outside and he looked so dang cute, she would have probably woken him up. But because both of those things were true, Alice picked up the blanket off the end of her couch and draped it over him. There was something about seeing Mokuba fast asleep that made her feel oddly tired as well.

By the time she had finished both her hot chocolate and Mokuba's, she was ready to fall asleep as well. For some people hot chocolate made them more awake, but for her it was like taking benadryl without being sick. She intended to stay up reading in her chair until Mokuba woke up, and then she would offer to drive him home, but as time slipped by her eyelids became heavier and heavier until finally, she was asleep.

_~~~DFAD~~~_

Alice awoke to the shrill sound of her phone ringing. It didn't register with her until later that she didn't know the song that was playing. In a daze she groped around the dark for her bag, and then remembered once again that it was in Duke's car. Figuring it must be her house phone she picked it up, and the ringing went on. Confused, she looked around the room and spotted the light given off by a phone on her glass coffee table. She stumbled her way to the phone and almost screamed when she saw someone lying on her couch. Luckily she recognized the fair black hair, and she managed to just make a gasping noise.

The phone had stopped ringing by now, and she was slightly impressed that Mokuba had slept through it. She turned back around to walk back to the armchair when the strange song started up again. Sighing, she bent over and picked up Mokuba's phone and read the display screen.

"Big Bro, 7386-52422"

_Oh geez! _Alice thought in a panic. She had completely forgotten that Mokuba's parents or brother might get worried that he hadn't come home yet. After living on her own for so long she'd forgotten what it was like to have someone around, other than hired help, that cared. She glanced at the clock, saw that it was well past midnight and grimaced. Clearing her throat of sleep, she answered the call.

"Hello?" A strange silence met her greeting. Had he hung up after no one had answered? "Hello? Is this Mokuba's brother?" She asked hesitantly.

There was an exhale of breath on the other end, and then a strangely deep voice responded, "Who is this?"

Alice thought that only in cartoons did people have voices that were that low, but she supposed she could have been misinformed. "This is Alice, Mokuba's friend. Er, I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience. You see, Mokuba fell asleep on my couch and well, I just couldn't bring myself to wake him up."

Alice received a chuckle in response, and then Mokuba's brother said, "That kid can fall asleep anywhere."

It pleased her to hear the endearment with which Mokuba's brother talked about him, she had worried that perhaps Mokuba really was neglected. "I am sorry, I didn't mean to worry you or your parents. You see, I live on my own so the thought just didn't occur to me."

"I know," the voice said kindly, and for a moment she thought she recognized it.

"You do?" She asked confused. There was a short silence before the brother responded, and his voice seemed to have deepened again over the pause.

"Mokuba loves to talk about you, he mentioned a few days ago that you lived alone."

"He did, did he?" Alice asked as she looked down at Mokuba fondly, "Well I suppose it could be an interesting topic."

"Yes, especially for Mokuba since it's just us living together." The brother confided.

"You don't live with your parents?" Alice asked, extremely curious.

"Our step-father passed away not too long ago, he was the only family that we had left." He stated matter of factly.

"I'm sorry," she said sympathetically.

The brother just grunted in response and again she was hit by a strange wave of déjà vu. There was another brief pause and Alice began to feel uncomfortable, so she went ahead and spoke.

"Would you like me to wake Mokuba up?"

"No!" The brother said quickly, "I think he could use the rest, and he does seem to enjoy spending time with you. Just tell him when he wakes up that I called," Alice thought she could hear a smile in the brother's voice. "Oh, and tell him he's persistent."

"What?" Alice asked as she cocked her head to the side in confusion, and then realized that he couldn't see her reaction.

The brother chuckled again, "Nothing, it's an inside joke. Sleep well, Alice."

The line went dead and Alice placed the phone back on the coffee table. She had already curled up in the chair and had a blanket over her when she realized she had never asked his name. How rude she must have seemed to him. She'd have to get Mokuba to apologize for her. Before she drifted off back into unconsciousness, she vaguely recalled the brother saying that Mokuba mentioned she lived alone, only she couldn't remember ever telling Mokuba that.

Alice yawned and snuggled down into the blankets and suede cushions of her chair. Oh well, maybe she was just over thinking this. Quicker than she had fallen asleep the first time, Alice fell into the blissful oblivion of sleep. But the counter thought still remained in her head; and maybe, just maybe, she was thinking just enough.

[_A/N: So, what did you think? What was your favorite part? Was it the scene with Alice and Seto's first kiss? Or maybe the dramatic wine glass breaking? Or how bout Mokuba in general! He's just so cute ^_^ Maybe it was even Alice and the 'mysterious' brother's phone conversation? Let me know by dropping me a review or a message. I really want to hear from you guys! Also, oh nevermind :P just review!_]


	18. Chaos

[_A/N: College is SERIOUSLY kicking my butt, who would have thought engineering was such a difficult major! Lol. I'm going to try and be better about my updates, but I won't promise anything I can't keep. I hope you still love me, and if not I plan to buy back your love with Seto Kaiba :} Mwaahahaha! Maybe I should just drop out and write Fanfiction for a living, what do you think? Somehow I think even getting Ramen for dinner would be difficult._]

***Disclaimer*** (Apparently the lawyers didn't understand, because now I'm being sued for 'attempted humor that failed epically in the category of non-ownership of "Yu-Gi-Oh!"' I feel like I should say MLIA, but then I'd probably get sued by their monkey lawyers too because they would think I'm claiming ownership!)

**Chapter 18 – Chaos**

The warm sunlight of the cold autumn day filtered in through the half closed blinds, lighting up Alice's living room and causing the brunette's eyes to flutter open. She wasn't use to waking up to such bright surroundings, it disoriented her for several moments. It was unheard of for her to even sleep past seven, and yet here she was just rising at 10:12am. She stretched and rolled her stiff neck, silently contemplating why her sleep had been so restful, and then she heard light snoring coming from her tan couch and knew without a doubt the reason; Mokuba.

While living alone, with nothing but the ghosts of horrible memories and a voice in her head, Alice had come to realize that peaceful sleep was a rare thing. Over time she learned that when someone she felt comfortable with was with her in the room, like Sofia or Amy, the nightmares stayed far away and she could sleep for a lot longer and more deeply. Even the few times she had slept with Seto around she had slept much more peacefully. This was a great testament to how much Alice cared and trusted both Seto and the raven haired teen that lay on her couch. Though they only met a week ago, she felt safe enough to have him over for the night, and around him her guard was always down. Alice crept out of the room and up the stairs, she'd put off getting ready for the day long enough.

Standing in front of her closet, Alice wondered what she should wear. She had a duel to go to, so nothing too gaudy… Alice bit her tongue as Mikaila's words echoed in her skull – _"__It doesn't even fit you properly. The skirt is WAY too long, and the jacket is HUGE!"_ – and then, with the blood pulsing in her head, Alice knew what she would wear.

Grabbing one of the tacky garments off its hanger, Alice headed for her washing machine and threw it in. Turning the dials, she watched as the hot water filled the machine and mixed with the detergent she had added. After making sure the wash had started, she headed back to her room for a quick shower.

In no time at all Alice was standing in a light blue silk robe, making oatmeal in her kitchen while her clothes dried. Her freshly blow dried hair fell in large, soft curls around her shoulders because she had chosen to leave her red ribbon out of her hair today. The smell of free food must have floated into the living room, because Mokuba bounded in just as the oatmeal finished.

"Morning!" He said happily as he sat down at the island counter, "So what's for breakfast?" Alice rolled her eyes as she set a bowl in front of the energetic teenager, filling it with oatmeal. "Mmmm, I haven't had oatmeal in years!" Mokuba exclaimed as he began drowning the bowl in syrup and brown sugar. Alice started laughing as she watched Mokuba - with the expression of a mad scientist - turn his breakfast into a soup of cardiac arrest portions.

"Someone is in a good mood this morning. If I didn't know any better," Alice paused as she picked up her own bowl and sat down next to him, "I'd think you fell asleep on purpose."

Mokuba shrugged, trying to hide a smile as he continued to eat his oatmeal. Unsatisfied with his response, Alice tried again.

"You know, you got me in trouble because you slept over." Mokuba simply raised one eyebrow, never pausing his inhaling of the food. Making a face, Alice continued, "Yeah, your brother was really annoyed with me."

The spoon in Mokuba's mouth stilled, and his eyes widened theatrically. Alice stared down into her bowl with an upset expression when she realized she had him, struggling to stay silent so she didn't ruin it. He swallowed his food uncomfortably and put his spoon down on the table, watching her carefully as he asked quietly, "Really? He didn't yell, did he?"

Alice's mouth twitched and she exhaled a shaky laugh, causing Mokuba to narrow his eyes, which just made her laugh louder. He continued to look at her with an expression of mixed dread and confusion, but she just kept laughing in-between bites of oatmeal. Slowly Mokuba picked his own spoon back up and ate cautiously as he waited for Alice's fit of laughter to subside as his mind swirled around the possibilities. He replayed the conversation in his head, and then breathed a sigh of relief.

"You were just messing with me weren't you?" He asked hopefully as she finished cleaning out her bowl in the sink.

Alice turned to face him with one hand on her hip, "Not so fun when you're the one getting played huh?" She asked with a wink.

Mokuba pouted as he stood up with his bowl, "I don't play people, and that's not a very nice thing to…" He trailed off as he paused at the sink, his head cocked to one side. A slow smile spread across his angelic face, "Huh, what do you know. I do play people!" Alice shook her head in mock disapproval, causing his grin to widen. "But don't you think it works for me? I mean come on, I'm adorable right! Maybe a little bit mischievous, not to mention extremely handsome," he waggled his eyebrows at her as he put his bowl in the sink, and she rolled her eyes. "It just works for me, Alice. Now you, you might want to stick to clueless but sweet routine, I don't think you can handle the responsibility of being me." He finished sagely.

Alice bumped him out of the way and started washing his bowl out too, placing them both in the dish washer, all the while muttering loudly about spoiled brats. Mokuba just laughed happily as he waited for her to finish. Then he smiled at her and said, "You know, I really did believe you there for a minute. I should have known you didn't actually talk to my brother."

"But I did," she said with a smile as she watched his own disappear. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and immediately went to recent calls, sure enough there were two calls from his brother, and one was listed as being received. "I was surprised you slept through that ringtone of yours."

Mokuba just stared numbly at Alice, then at his phone, then back to Alice. "What did he say… was he actually annoyed?"

Alice shook her head, "No, not at all. He was actually quite nice; I forgot to ask his name though. He just said to tell you that he called… and something about you being persistent? He said it was an inside joke."

Relaxing visibly, Mokuba laughed as he exclaimed, "Well I had to learn it from somewhere!" as they made their way back into the living room. A plan began to formulate in the younger Kaiba brother's brain, and within seconds he was ready to share.

"I know, Alice! Why don't you come to my house today?" He asked cheerfully. "I'm always coming over to your house, the least I could do is return the favor, especially after the awesome breakfast you made! We could have lunch at my place, and play some sports, and go to the garden, and you could meet my brother! Doesn't that sound fun? What do you say, Ali?"

Alice's eyebrows went up questioningly, "Ali?"

Mokuba shrugged with a sheepish smile, "Too much?"

"No," she said smiling slightly, "My dad used to call me that, well he used to call me 'Ali-cat', but they're close." Mokuba didn't look too convinced, so she giggled and added, "I like it, really."

Mokuba smiled widely at her, "Well then you can call me Mokie." Alice looked at him waiting for the story behind it and he didn't disappoint. "My big brother used to call me that when we were little. I really liked it, but he doesn't use it very often, so I figure it's not copyrighted anymore."

Alice laughed at his lame joke and agreed, "Alright, so you're Mokie and I'm Ali."

The raven haired teen nodded his head emphatically and said smugly, "Good, cause that's what you're in my phone as." Alice put her hand on her hip and stuck her tongue out at him, and before she could blink Mokuba had his phone out and there was a flash.

Blinking through the spots in her vision, Alice asked, "What was that for?"

"I needed a picture for your phone contact, plus I'm sure my brother would LOVE to see it!" He said as a smirk played across his sweet face, reminding her of someone much older and less sweet.

"Mokuba, no!" She shrieked as she lunged at him for his phone, but he dodged skillfully. Instead of trying again, Alice sagged her shoulders and whined, "But Mokie! I'm not even dressed yet, I'm only in a robe."

For a moment Mokuba's expression froze, but soon he smiled, "Well I think you look wonderful no matter what you're wearing, Ali. Now go get dressed and we'll head to my house for lunch with my brother!"

Her face fell further, as she mumbled under her breathe, "But I can't…"

"What? Why not?" Mokuba asked confused, trying to hide the genuine hurt in his voice.

Alice bit her lip and looked over at him with eyes full of apologies. "I sort of have a duel I have to go to–"

"You're a duelist!?" Mokuba interrupted.

"Well no not really," she said with a poor excuse of a smile, "You remember how I said I had a date yesterday with Duke?" Mokuba nodded, "Well, a girl who goes to our school showed up during it and well, she insulted my friends." Alice made a face then shook her head as she remembered. "She insulted me too, saying I was poor and ugly, and that it was rubbing off on Seto. And I just lost it."

Mokuba's expression was surprised as she went over every detail; the location and time of the duel, the wine glass shattering, and the wager. What surprised him wasn't that she had stood up for herself and her friends, but what had caused it was the insults to his brother! _And she calls him Seto!_ Mokuba thought smugly as Alice ended her story.

"So that's why I can't come over for lunch, Mokie. I'm really sorry." She said as she hung her head.

"Hey, Ali it's cool, you don't have to apologize so much." He said as he waved his hand dismissively, "Why don't we just have dinner then? That way you can do both and we can celebrate your win."

Alice raised her head and gave Mokuba a small smile, "Confident in my nonexistent dueling abilities?"

"Always! Now get some clothes on, would you! We have to head to Kaiba Land for your duel soon or we'll be late." Mokuba said as he gave Alice a shove for the stairs.

"Umm, we?" Alice asked as she shook her head at Mokuba. "Oh no. There is no way you're coming to watch this duel. There will be enough people there already, I don't need the extra pressure. I'll just call you when I'm done and you can give me directions."

Mokuba frowned, "But I wanted to see you duel! And if I give you directions how can I see the impressed look on your face when you see my house? How about we meet at the park instead? It's almost exactly halfway between our houses."

"Sounds good to me," she said smiling.

"Great, now go get dressed and we'll leave." He commanded as he pointed toward the stairs.

"Mokie, you are _not_ coming to the duel." She said sternly as she paused at the bottom stair.

He just rolled his eyes at her, "I'm going to walk with you to Kaiba Land."

"No you aren't, because if you do then you'll just want to stay, and that's not going to happen." Alice said as she raced up the stairs before Mokuba could protest.

Alice grabbed the clothes out of the dryer and then proceeded to take a pair of scissors to them. It was surprising how much pleasure she got from shredding the garment and listening to the pieces tear as the scissors cut through the material.

Mokuba's muffled voice came from down the stairs, "Ali! It's almost 11:30, you're going to be late for your duel! You know, the one you won't let me go to," he yelled louder.

"Yeah, yeah." Alice called back dismissively, as she strapped on her duel deck holder to her thigh. "There, all done." She muttered as she glanced over herself in the mirror. _What if this doesn't make a difference? What if I lose and Renewal just keeps making horrible remarks about my friends? What if I win, and she doesn't stop? What if, what if I make myself look like a fool?_ Alice worried as she looked into her fearful emerald eyes.

The air around her shifted then, and in the mirror Alice could vaguely see a sort of blue light shimmering to her right. Her eyebrows pulled together as she leaned closer to the mirror, trying to figure out exactly what it was she was looking at.

_**"****You will see nothing in the mirror, child."**_ Aeris stated dryly.

"But there's something there, I'm sure of it." Alice said as she reached out and touched the mirror.

_**"There is nothing in the mirror but your own reflection and my shadow."**_

"Shadow?" Alice asked confused. "How can your shadow be in the mirror if you have no…" Her voice stopped abruptly, and she carefully turned her head away from the mirror and to the figure standing beside her. She wasn't quite there, you could literally see straight through her, but there was no doubt in Alice's mind that she wasn't just imagining this.

A woman stood but a foot away from her, returning her shocked gaze with a probing one of her own. She looked regal in an Egyptian garb of red and black, with its contradictory Japanese characters printed on the silk seeming to move, a constant warning. The woman's hair was straight, and such a dark brown that it could be mistaken as black; the bleached white bangs fell around her face at sharp angles; her eyes so bottomless that the green of her irises blended with her pupils, the whites of her eyes a stormy gray. Alice looked at her dark tanned skin, so different from her own fair completion, but her eyes were drawn to the Japanese character on the woman's red gold arm band. "Destruction".

Alice's head was spinning as she looked the woman up and down. The woman was all red's and black's – the black swirls painted around her eyes, the red gold choker around her neck with its shining rubies, the tight black silk wrapped around her chest, the long black skirt with a thigh length slit with more rubies that glinted along the waist band, and the red gold of her sandals that wove around her calves – which is why the rusted silver of the manacles on her wrists seemed to glow, and the chains hanging from them with broken links looked like metal snakes. Alice's gaze fell to the second Japanese character on the bottom of the woman's top. "Fear".

Alice swallowed slowly and inhaled through her mouth, trying desperately not scream or worse faint. The woman was the same height as her, but looked feet taller simply by the way she stood; proud and tall. They had the same facial features, the same basic shape about them. The only difference was the coloring pigments, their hair… and the woman's white wings. Wings that she had dreamed about on a different person. And then she saw the blue shimmering light around the woman, a light that moved dangerously like electricity. Alice's eyes looked to the final Japanese character on the waste of the skirt, the last warning of what this woman was. "Chaos".

And although Alice had never seen this woman before, although they had never stood face to face, the woman's name left her lips as she fell to her knees. "Aeris."

Aeris walked forward noiselessly, kneeling in front of Alice and holding her hands out with her palms up, _**"Yes, it is me. Do not be afraid human, I mean you no harm."**_

Alice tried to look away from the words printed on the woman's clothes but her eyes remained glued to them. She knew Aeris' words were true, but the woman was menacing in a way that Alice had never encountered before. She was powerful. That was obvious even without the electricity that escaped from her skin. She was beautiful. Beauty that was only emphasized by her clothes and the wings on her back. She was deadly. The warnings across her clothes said as much, the broken manacles on her wrists confirming it further.

_**"Alice."**_ She said sadly. Alice managed to raise her eyes to her counterpart's, and saw sadness in their depths. She was lonely.

It was what had drawn them together, what kept them on their path. They wanted the same thing, to be better than they really were.

"I'm so sorry." Alice said as clearly as she could. Even though she knew that Aeris' intentions were good, even though it had taken seven years for her to fully trust the woman, she had dismissed all of that simply because of how Aeris looked.

_**"It is quite alright child," **_Aeris promised as she placed a hand on Alice's arm, causing the hair to rise and goosebumps to form. _**"Do you now see why I did not simply present myself when you were young? You would have been frightened right into an asylum."**_

Alice gave a shaky laugh, "You're right. I suppose having a voice in my head when I was ten was better than seeing things that weren't there." Aeris smiled kindly, and it amazed Alice how the simple change in her expression made her seem so much less intimidating.

"Alice Porter! Seriously! It's past 11:30, if you don't go now you really will be late!" Mokuba yelled up the stairs, then laughed, "Do you need help or something?"

Both women kneeling in front of each other laughed lightly, but only one looked scared when the laughter ended.

_**"Go, you will do us both honor." **_Aeris said as she rose to her feet, Alice doing the same. _**"I will be with you no matter what the circumstance, I will help you win this duel as I always have, and we will right at least one wrong in this world of yours."**_

Alice smiled hopefully as she nervously placed her hand on the doorknob, "Just so we're clear, I'll be able to see you but no one else will… right?"

Aeris chuckled deeply and her white wings spread out before she faded away from sight. Alice could still feel her presence, the deck on her thigh was sending chills up her leg, which gave her all the push she need to open her door and walk down the stairs.

"Finally," Mokuba sighed as he heard Alice coming down the stairs, "I was beginning to think you died or fell into an episode of 3D's! I can't decide which would be worse! Why girls take so long to get ready I'll… never… know?" Mokuba's voice raised a few octaves as he took in Alice's outfit, clearly confused.

"Umm, Ali?" Mokuba asked as his eyes flashed to the floor, his cheeks slightly pink.

"Yes, Mokie?" She said cheerfully as she ruffled his hair on the way to the door.

Mokuba struggled internally for a polite way to phrase his question, but he wasn't having too much luck. "Why are you wearing a school uniform that's all torn up to a duel?"

Alice shut and locked her front door before responding, slipping the key into her skirt pocket. She was extremely lucky the Domino High school uniform skirts even had pockets, otherwise she'd be without not only her phone most days but also her keys. "The girl I'm about to go duel, Mikaila, was extremely rude about the way my uniform normally fits me, so I thought I'd show her and well, look different." She finished weakly as they set off down her driveway.

Mokuba looked Alice up and down; noticing again the knee high white boots with the four inch heels; the frayed little school girl skirt, pleated and swaying high on her thighs; the red duelist's strap around her leg; the tight pink blazer, and the lack of neck tie; and her hair blowing freely around her, no ribbon in sight. It didn't look bad, in fact she looked very attractive, it made her look older even, but the look just wasn't her style.

The silence was starting to bother Alice so she muttered, "Is it too much?"

Shaking his head, Mokuba said, "Not at all! I think it's a great idea. You aren't just going to beat this Mikaila girl badly at Duel Monsters, but you're also going to show her she was wrong about you."

Alice smile at him, "Thanks, Mokuba." He frowned at her slightly, his lips pouting. She rolled her eyes and amended, "Mokie."

His wide smile was back on his face as they neared the park, "I'm glad you're catching on, Ali! It makes being best friends much easier," he winked at her before he started walking the other direction, supposedly toward his house.

Alice shook her head, it was surprising but she really did think of Mokuba as her best friend as well, even if he was rather childish. That reminded her… "Mokuba!"

He turned around as he continued walking backward, his phone to his ear as he responded sarcastically, "Yes, Alice?"

She sweat dropped at her mistake, "How old are you, Mokie?"

A smirk crossed Mokuba's face as he responded, "Twenty-three, give or take a few!"

Alice laughed loudly, "How much is 'a few'?"

He scrunched his nose as he muttered into his phone, "Hold on bro," then yelled to Alice, "Ten, give or take ten. So I'd say I'm actually thirty-three!"

"See you later, Mokie!" Alice called as she turned and headed in the direction of Kaiba Land, still laughing under her breath.

"Bye, Ali!" Mokuba shouted over his shoulder as he turned and walked in basically any direction other than where he was really headed. "You were saying, Seto?"

"Ali, huh? I suppose things went well?" Seto asked chuckling into the phone as he propped his feet up onto his desk in his home office.

"I really think it suits her!" Mokuba said cheerfully, "And of course it went well, I am 'persistent' after all."

"Yeah you are kid," he agreed readily. "What did you find out?"

"Pushy, aren't we, Kaiba-boy?" Mokuba joked as he checked behind him to make sure Alice was out of sight before sitting down against a tree.

"No." Seto responded curtly, and Mokuba could almost feel his icy glare through his phone.

"Chill out bro, I was just kidding. It went pretty well, I didn't even have to break up their date! Some girl named Mikaila did it for me," Mokuba mused.

"Mikaila? Really now," Seto responded, clearly interested.

"Yeah! I showed up at the restaurant right as Alice was walking out, so I called her but she didn't pick up, apparently she left her bag and phone with Duke. Anyway, I had Roland follow her and when we got to the park I got out and flagged her down! I felt like a total super spy, Seto! It was way cool. You should stalk girls more often," Mokuba offered cheekily.

Seto ignored his comment, "Well go on then, what happened?"

"Well, it took a lot of probing, but she eventually told me that Mikaila insulted you and her friends. So, Ali got angry and broke her wine glass _all_ _over _Mikaila! Isn't that just so cool? Then she challenged her to a duel and said that if she won then Mikaila had to apologize publically, but if she lost then she'd pay for the dry-cleaning. And then–"

"Wait, Alice is dueling Mikaila?" Seto asked as he brought his feet down off his desk.

Mokuba nodded enthusiastically, "That's what I said. And get this, their doing it at Kaiba Land, ironic right? I'm not supposed to go though, so I figure I hang back for a few minutes then you come and pick me up, and we go incognito style."

Mokuba could hear his brother moving about their mansion, "I'm on my way. Is there anything else?"

"Lots," Mokuba responded happily. "But, umm Seto? You do know what incognito is, right? It means no trench coats or fancy pants, literally."

"Yes, Mokuba. I understand the meaning of incognito," Seto responded dryly as he went through about three drawers before finally finding a pair of blue jeans. "Now what else do you know?"

"I know she's coming over for dinner, so I will formally introduce you two by the end of today. I know Ali definitely likes you more than you think." Mokuba smiled wickedly, "And I also know she looks _really_ good in blue silk."

"What?" Seto hissed as he grabbed his car keys and left his room.

"Hold on, it's easier to show you." Mokuba sent the picture, and then waited patiently for the reaction.

Seto muttered some choice swear words as well as several things about Pegasus' mother, "How did you get this?"

"I spent the night, remember? You should try it sometime, she makes the best oatmeal."

_~~~DFAD~~~_

"I found her," Yugi told his friends as he saw the brunette enter the amusement park.

Tristan's mouth hit the floor, "What is she wearing!?"

"It's called 'clothing' Tristan, you should try some on sometime." Téa said sarcastically before Duke could mirror his comment.

"Hey, Alice!" Joey yelled, waving his hands in the air. She immediately ran toward them with perhaps the biggest smile they'd ever seen plastered on her face.

"Hi guys," she said all grins and giggles, "I had no idea this place would be so big!"

Mai snorted, "It has to be, otherwise it would have exploded from all the giant egos it had in it during the Grand Championship."

They all laughed at Mai's joke before Joey realized, "Wait a minute, I'm one of dos people!" And they just laughed harder.

After the laughter subsided Duke said sheepishly, "Here, Alice, I figure you're gunna need this," and handed her the backpack she left in his car yesterday.

Alice took the bag from him with a smile, "Thanks Du… wait a minute! How'd you know I'd need it?"

Duke wouldn't meet her eyes as he said, "I saw it in my car after… yesterday. I figured I should return it, but I didn't know where you lived so I texted you, and I heard your phone go off in the bag. I thought maybe there was an address or home number in the bag. And well, I opened it and saw the duel disk and knew I should just bring it."

Alice smiled at him as she fished her phone out of the backpack and put it in her skirt pocket, "Well thank you for that, Duke."

"I still can't believe you broke a glass _and_ spilled wine on Mikaila," Joey said with a huge grin on his face. "I wish I coulda seen dat!"

Alice blushed and looked at Duke helplessly, "You told them?"

This time his green eyes met hers and he smiled reassuringly, "I figured you could use the support, and I needed a way to apologize for what I did, or what I didn't do actually. I should've defended you guys," Duke said to everyone, "But I was so caught up in the wine and insanely hot girls around me I kinda missed my chance," he said rubbing the back of his head nervously.

Before Alice could respond Yugi cut in, "We forgive you, Duke. It's what friends do."

Everyone nodded in agreement, though Joey looked like he was going to say something to the contrary, but Mai clamped a hand over his mouth.

Alice looked at the black and blue haired girl that stood a few feet away from them, all alone, staring at the clock, before turning back to her friends, "You know, you didn't have to come."

Mai looked at Alice seriously, "It's nice to have friends behind you, especially in a duel, that's something these guys taught me. But what's bugging me is when we first met you said you weren't a duelist."

"I'm not," Alice said as she strapped on her duel disk, "But that doesn't mean that I won't duel to defend my friends. I'm not an expert, I don't have a great deck, and I certainly don't find it all that fun; but when things get bad, sometimes fighting back is the only answer."

"Nicely said," Mai said as she wrapped an arm around Joey's waist.

"Then we'll be here with you," Yugi promised as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"And we'll support you while you're dueling," Tristan said crossing his arms.

"Whether you win or lose, we got your back," Duke proclaimed with a wink.

"Because that's what friends do," Téa added with a smile.

Alice smiled too, trying to hold back all the emotions that were suddenly flowing through her. "Thanks, guys."

Joey cleared his throat, and everyone turned to see a worried look on his face. "Are you sure about dis, Alice? I mean, one of us could duel for ya."

"It's just a duel, Joey," Alice said waving a hand dismissively, "Besides, I got myself into this mess, so it's my job to get out of it."

"Well then, win it for us," he said with a smile and a thumbs up.

Alice nodded and turned to face Mikaila as the clock tower announced that it was noon, and with noon came the time to duel.

"I'm surprised you actually showed up, Porter." Mikaila sneered as she activated her duel disk and drew her first cards.

"What, and miss an opportunity to kick your butt," Alice replied as she angled the bottom of her duel disk toward her side as it spun out, "Never."

Mikaila scowled as she drew a card and placed it in defense along with two cards face down. "You're awfully confident today. It'll be even more satisfying when I trash you," Mikaila mocked as she ended her turn.

Alice drew her card and placed a monster in attack mode with one face down card, the red underside of her duel disk glinting in the light before she brought it down to her thigh. She considered Mikaila's observation before she responded sagely, "That's not going to happen."

"And why's that?" Mikaila asked as she fidgeted with her cards.

Alice attacked and destroyed Mikaila's monster, as well as one of her face down cards with one of her own. "Because, I've realized something; **I have a lot to fight for****."**

Mikaila smirked and drew her next card, muttering under her breath, "We'll see."

_~~~DFAD~~~  
_

"She's not doing too badly," Mai commented as she watched Mikaila place another monster in defense mode.

Joey nodded, "She almost seems lika different person, confidence suits her."

Beside him, Yugi stiffened at his words. _It can't be,_ he thought as he watched Alice summon another monster, _it's just not possible._

"_But it could be possible," _the Pharaoh argued as he appeared next to him. _"It would explain a great deal, the only question is how?"_

"What do you think, Yugi?" Téa asked, unaware of the chaos that was unfolding in his mind and the conversation he was having with Atem.

Yugi blushed profusely as he realized how close Téa's face was to his own, "I ah, heh. What was the question?"

"Do you think Alice can really win this duel?" Téa asked again as her own face fought off a blush.

"I think she has a decent shot," Yugi said as he shifted his gaze to the ever growing crowd around them. There was something wrong; something in the crowd was making him feel nervous.

It seemed like there weren't many duels going on today because the audience for Alice and Mikaila's duel was increasing by the minute. People were coming from every direction to watch them battle it out. There seemed to be an absurd amount of people around them, not all of which were watching the duel however.

Something was wrong, the thought stayed with Yugi as he scanned the crowd for someone that didn't seem to fit; twin boys jumping up and down in excitement, a young couple holding hands debated about who would win, a thin red-haired woman who tried to pull her children away from the ongoing duel, an elderly woman with clover green hair who was feeding birds, a group of rookie duelists watching with adamant curiosity as Mikaila readied her attack, a tall man in a hoodie who smiled as Mikaila's monster destroyed Alice's, three teenage boys huddled together behind Mikaila wooing in encouragement, a statuesque man in dark denim jeans and a baseball cap lingering by the water fountain, a group of cheerleaders standing beside the pretzel machine arguing about calories, and most surprising of all was what he swore was Mokuba Kaiba ducking behind the cheerleaders. Someone didn't quite seem like they belonged, but the more Yugi looked at them, the sillier he felt.

The twins left after a few moments, going to find some food or something. Yugi didn't know why he was being so paranoid, but he felt Atem mirroring his concerns. _"Not the twins."_ He said dryly as he looked over the others Yugi had noticed, _"But there is someone here, someone here who doesn't feel right."_

Yugi nodded his head in silent agreement as he ruled out the red-haired woman and the group of duelists. He tried to find Mokuba again, perhaps he had some surveillance cameras that could put his mind to ease, but both he and the cheerleaders seemed to have moved on. He stared at the elderly woman feeding the birds, and the three teenage boys but dismissed them as well. The young couple gave Yugi a moment's pause, there was something off about the way the blonde haired man was holding the tall woman. Atem had half convinced him to go talk to the couple when Téa gasped. Yugi broke away from his analysis of the crowd to see his friends all had mixed expressions of confusion and worry on their faces.

"Is she… bleeding?" Duke asked in a hushed whisper, his eyes glued to Alice's face.

"That's not possible," Mai muttered, gripping Joey's hand tighter, "This is just a duel, they're only holograms… they aren't real, they can't be real again, right?"

Yugi was absolutely baffled, _what are they talking… about._ He saw it then, as Alice moved her hand to whip away the red liquid coming from the fresh cut on her right cheek. Next to him Atem's hands clenched into fists, _"We knew something was wrong, just not that it had reached this magnitude."_

"Is she bleeding because of Mikaila's attack?" Tristan asked, voicing everyone's silent worries.

"No. It's not possible," Joey denied in a low voice.

Yugi managed to swallow the lump in his throat, "I think it is, Joey."

He had missed it because he was too busy looking for a person causing his unease, but what really bothered him hadn't been someone in the crowd, but the weather around it. The wind was changing directions every few seconds. The sun was out and shining, yet it seemed so very dark in Kaiba Land. It was cold, or supposed to be, yet there was a sudden dry heat that was circulating around them.

"Something is wrong," Yugi said, finally putting his and Atem's thoughts out there.

Joey pulled Mai closer to him as he looked around, "I thought something was off? What is it, Yug?"

Yugi shook his head, watching as Alice pulled herself together, "I'm not positive, but there's something wrong with the weather. Does it look too dark to any of you?"

The group scanned the area, paying attention to everything and trying to drown out the crowd's mumbling, but still they heard it.

"Is that brunette girl okay? She looks a little pale." One of the boys behind Mikaila asked.

"I think the duel disks may be malfunctioning or something." Another voice chimed in, one of the ten duelists.

"Duel disks don't just 'malfunction', she probably just did that to herself." A girl said, shifting away from the duel subconsciously.

But the worst thing they overheard was from a little boy as he reached his hand out in front of him, grasping at the air, "Mommy, I didn't know that clouds could be on the ground."

"The Shadows." Téa mumbled, looking like she wanted to throw up. They looked at her, but she was looking only at Yugi. "It's the Shadows you were warned about."

Yugi managed to nod his head, "I think it is. But this isn't a Shadow Game, I'm sure of it. This is something… different."

They watched as Alice ordered her newest monster to attack Mikaila's. The Duel Monster ran forward and swung it's broadsword in a wide arc destroying Mikaila's monster, and sending her skidding backward with frightening speed.

The boys standing behind Mikaila jumped out of the way as she was propelled farther backward, her heels scraping groves into the cement. She collided with a chain link fence over fifteen feet behind her, and then fell to her knees gasping for air.

"Mikaila!" Alice yelled as she started toward the doubled over girl.

"Stay where you are," Mikaila grated out as she shakily stood to her feet. "I don't need your help, but I'll gladly return the favor."

"Renewal, we should stop this. It's getting dangerous, something is wrong!" Alice pleaded as she watched Mikaila draw another card.

"What, and miss paying you back," Mikaila growled, mirroring Alice's words earlier as she played an equip card on her monster. "I think not!" She yelled as her monster lunged forward, straight at Alice's.

Alice cringed as her monster shattered and the force of the attack sent her flying backward, her feet lifting off the ground and her arms flailing uselessly. She squeezed her eyes shut and prepared herself for the collision with the brick wall behind her. For the pain. For the inevitable agony that would accompany the sound of flesh hitting solid rock. So when she instead hit something distinctly softer and heard a grunt her eyes flew open.

She could hear more whispers around her about malfunctions in the duel disks, but she was distinctly more aware of the shallow breathing coming from behind her. Her head was spinning, she tried to get up anyway but found that it was impossible due to a pair of strong male arms wrapped around her waist. Before she could turn in his arms to look at him, she was hoisted to her feet and a gruff voice spoke in her ear.

"Can you stand?" he asked, not releasing his hold on her waist.

"Yes, I think so," Alice whispered in amazement. "If you hadn't stepped in the way..." her voice trailed off as the man's hands trailed along her waist, and he pulled her back into him, their bodies flush together.

"It was an accident. Wrong place, wrong time. You owe me, doll." The man breathed as his fingers gripped her hips so tightly it was almost painful.

Alice's face lit up like a flame, "I um, thank you," she muttered as she tried to pull away from him and he let his hold on her drop. Alice was instantly relieved that he had relented, and immensely surprised when she turned around and found him already walking away. She watched her savior walk away like nothing had happened, not even a limp found in his large strides. The stranger in the dark denim jeans and baseball cap walked with his shoulders slummed in a way she'd never seen before, and he'd left the smell of coffee and roses behind him. She opened her mouth to call out to him but Mikaila interrupted her.

"Are we going to duel or would you like to find another bum to _grind_ against," Mikaila mocked as she examined a nail.

Alice did grind something together before she responded through clenched teeth, "Renewal, this is serious. We need to end this duel before it gets any worse!"

Mikaila laughed harshly, "Well it's your turn, Porter. Forfeit. My dry-cleaning bill is due soon anyway."

"I can't forfeit," Alice said shaking her head, "We have to agree to just end it or you have to surrender."

"Hah. That's not going to happen, so just draw your card." Mikaila instructed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"If ya don't end the duel now it could get uglier," Joey called from the sidelines.

"Then tell her to just give up." Mikaila commanded.

Alice lowered her eyes to her deck sadly as she drew her card, "I can't do that."

"Then I'll end the duel my way," Mikaila sneered with a sadistic smile.

"Mikaila, Alice!" Yugi yelled to them, a long speech forming on his lips because he was not ready to give up hope quite yet.

Alice turned to him and shook her head once, pain visible in her eyes. "It's no use Yugi, we're both too prideful to stop this."

Looking at the determined set of her shoulders, Yugi hesitantly took a step back, acknowledging that it was an impossible duel to stop. Alice gave him what was supposed to be a reassuring smile, but it came off more like a grimace.

On full alert now, Yugi swept the area with his eyes, absorbing every little detail that he and Atem could see. That was why he noticed Mokuba again. The boy's eyebrows pulled together as he talked to a man in a baseball cap; the same man who had accidentally walked between Alice and the wall. The pair was so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't notice him as he made his way around the duel toward them. Yugi tried to be discrete about it, pretending like he was just getting a better look at the duel. Eventually he was within hearing range.

"Why won't Alice just forfeit the duel?" Yugi heard Mokuba ask the man.

"I'm not sure, but I plan to interrogate her later about it." The man replied in a low voice that had Yugi straining his ears to hear. His voice sounded so very familiar that Yugi had to fight the urge to turn around and look at him.

There was a long silence as they watched the duel intently. Alice's monster destroyed Mikaila's, bringing her lifepoints to a mere 200 and forming a long cut on her forearm that began to bleed. Mikaila then shrieked and immediately retaliated with a trap and monster card combination. The combination brought Alice's lifepoints down to 600 and caused her to skid back a few feet, one knee scraping against the concrete as she tried to fight the force of the blow. When Alice got to her feet there was an angry looking friction burn, the skin torn back in several places.

Mokuba's intake of breath was audible behind Yugi, though he doubted anyone but he and the man had heard it. "Can't you stop this, Seto?"

Though Yugi had suspected that the man was Kaiba, it confounded him to no ends. W_hat is he doing here? And why does he feel the need to be in disguise? Did he save Alice on purpose?_

Before Yugi could think of any other questions Kaiba responded, "If I ditched this cliché hat and donned some real clothes, maybe. But even then I somehow don't think either side would simply stop."

"What if you–" Mokuba began, but he was cut off by the sound of a ringing phone.

"Kaiba." Seto answered, again pitching his voice so low Yugi strained to hear him.

"Really now," Kaiba said, responding to some unheard conversation. "What location?" There was an abnormally long silence and Yugi chanced a look behind him to see Kaiba staring up at the bold black letter and numbers painted on the wall. "I should have known," he stated dryly. "Run a full diagnostic of all duel disk operating systems. I want to know how many other times this has happened." Another pause. "In a minute. First, tell me who is in this duel?" A third pause, this one so short Kaiba barely had time to inhale before he spoke again. "Hmph. Very well, shut it down."

Yugi knew the phone conversation was over when he heard Mokuba question his brother about the call.

Kaiba's response was quick and concise. "There have been chaotic spikes in the amount of combat damage received throughout the duel disk network, even though the computers are recording that all safeties are functioning at one hundred percent," he added grudgingly. "The worst of the spikes are actually being emitted from Porter and Renewal's duel, and they seem to be affecting other duels in about a two hundred mile radius."

Mokuba's expression was one of shock, "What? How?"

"I don't know," he responded severely, "And I don't take kindly to not knowing something about my own system."

"Well shouldn't we stop the duel then?" Mokuba pleaded, his worry evident in his tone.

"It's already being done," Kaiba stated. As soon as the words left his mouth the holograms in between Mikaila and Alice disappeared and the lights on their duel disks shut off.

"Why did the duel stop? What did you do?" Mikaila asked angrily as she hit her duel disk.

"I didn't do anything," Alice said as she too examined her duel disk, though with less ferocity.

"Oh please! You probably paid Seto to end our duel just so you wouldn't lose! Then again, he already has money so I'm sure you gave him something else in return. Ra, you are so pathetic." Mikaila said with a toss of her hair.

Alice stared at her with an incredulous look on her face, then smiled coldly, "There are some things in this world that can't be explained, your idiocy is one of them." Mikaila gaped after her as Alice walked back to her friends without another word.

"Well I can't say I'm sorry dat Kaiba decided to stop the duel," Joey admitted as Alice finally reached their group.

"Yeah, he probably just wanted to run some diagnostics or something," Alice supplied quickly as she took off her duel disk and shoved it into her backpack.

"I don't think that's it," Yugi said as he too rejoined the group.

"What do you mean?" Alice asked, a bit more sharply than she'd intended.

"Well, let's just say I have a feeling he was trying to protect something much more valuable," Yugi said with a wide smile on his face.

Alice's face quickly began to heat up, so she was very grateful when her phone began to ring. She looked at the caller id display and realized that it was "My BFF Mokuba" calling, and rolled her eyes as she hit the answer button. Before she could utter a single syllable the enthusiastic teenager began a long rambling of congratulations that only confused her.

"That was an awesome duel, Ali! I've seen a lot of duels and that was definitely one of the most intense stand offs EVER! I mean sure there was the weirdness because the attacks were actually doing damage, but that only made you fight harder. You were incredible. I knew you'd win, I just knew it. I mean–"

"Mokuba!" Alice yelled exasperated, finally cutting him off. She cast her eyes to her friends apologetically for ignoring them in favor of a phone call. They didn't look upset though, just shocked and surprised. Was it really that uncommon for someone to answer their phone?

"Yes, Alice?" He challenged. She could almost see the little punk rolling his eyes at her.

"I didn't win my duel, it ended without a winner being declared." She paused then narrowed her eyes skeptically, "Mokie, where are you?"

She heard his boyish laugh through her phone before he hung up on her. However, the laughter continued. Alice spun around to see Mokuba strolling leisurely toward her, wearing the same outfit he'd been in last time.

"And here I was thinking you weren't observant," Mokuba managed to say in-between his fits of laughter.

Alice tried to glare at him with disapproval, but his laughter was contagious and she found herself fighting a smile. She sighed, defeated. "I asked you not to come," she scolded halfheartedly.

"Well I didn't listen. Besides it wasn't a very fair request, especially since you let them stay," he replied cheekily as he gestured to Yugi and the gang.

Blinking a few times, Alice realized she'd neglected to properly introduce him to her friends. Feeling unbelievably rude, she opened her mouth to amend her error but Joey was already speaking.

"Hey ya, Mokuba. How ya been?"

"I've been good, Joey. Thanks." Mokuba replied happily, then added with a sly smile, "Been keeping busy though looking out for Ali here. She has this habit of having klutz attacks and I didn't want her bringing down the entire duel disk network."

Alice looked between her now laughing friends and the raven haired boy, clearly baffled. _What is going on…_

"You seem to know 'Ali' really well," Téa said with a sly smile of her own. "Deciding to step away from your brother's example of loving only technology and become a ladies' man instead?"

Mokuba laughed loudly and looked straight at Alice as he answered Téa, "I don't know, I think you'd be surprised how much of a ladies' man my brother actually is…" He trailed off as he realized what he'd said and who he was looking at, but no one seemed to notice because they were all howling with laughter at the thought; except Yugi and Alice.

"I didn't know you already knew everyone, Mokie." Alice stated suspiciously, finally voicing her curiosity at being left out of multiple inside jokes.

Mokuba's cheeks flushed with obvious embarrassment as he fumbled for an explanation. "Well, we go _way_ back. I practically grew up with them; we were dueling buddies."

"Really?" Alice asked with a small smile.

Everyone exchanged glances as Mokuba nodded his head enthusiastically, "Oh yeah! All the time. I was pretty good at it if I do say so myself."

"Uh-huh." Was Alice's only response and Mokuba began to panic. _What if she doesn__'__t believe me? What if she asks them to confirm it and they tell her the truth? That can__'__t happen! Not after all the work I__'__ve put into this!_ His panic got the better of him and he found himself speaking before he'd even worked out what to say.

"Yeah and they're also good friends with my big brother!"

There was a long silence that followed as everyone stared at Mokuba. Alice seemed to be the only one who was taking his bait, but that was fine because she was the one he was trying to convince.

"Mokuba," Yugi began, disapproval coloring his tone.

"Well we'd love to stay and chat," Mokuba exclaimed, cutting across Yugi, "But I promised I'd show Ali around my house before we had dinner. So see you!"

Mokuba practically dragged Alice away from Yugi and the gang, praying silently to Ra that they wouldn't try to stop him. He risked a glance behind him to see that Duke was standing in the way of their pursuit. It surprised Mokuba greatly; he'd have to find out what happened later. But right now he had to deliver a very aggravated Alice to his brother.

"That was exceedingly rude, Mokuba." Alice chastised after they made it out of Kaiba Land and he finally let go of her hand.

"Sorry, Alice," Mokuba said, more sincerely than she expected. "Can you forgive me?" It seems almost like he's apologizing for something else, but Alice ignored the thought.

"Of course I forgive you, Mokie." She said as she pulled him into a side hug as they continued walking.

"Thanks," he answered quietly. They elapsed into an easy silence as they continued their walk towards the park. The quietness that had settled around them disturbed Alice slightly as they passed the basketball court. He still looked so sad, she couldn't stand it anymore.

"So, how much farther is it to your house?"

Mokuba took just a moment longer to respond than usual, "Not too much farther. If we take my usual shortcut we should be there in less than fifteen minutes."

"Usual shortcut?" Alice questioned, worry seeping into her voice.

"Don't worry Ali," Mokuba began, his voice losing some of its apathy, "I'm not going to take you down some dark passageway or through a cave or something. We're just gunna cut through this field and then we're only a few streets away, promise."

"Well that's a relief, I'm terribly afraid of the dark," she said playfully as they turned toward the open field Mokuba was talking about.

It looked to be something like an old baseball field that had gone long since unused. There was a chain link fence that encompassed the field. Tall trees formed a natural second fence to the left and right of the field, enclosing the area from the road Alice could see at the other end of the field.

"Are you really?" Mokuba asked, a wide grin on his face, his past sadness completely forgotten.

"Nah, but I am afraid of what's for dinner tonight." Alice admitted as she scrunched her nose and shifted her backpack.

Mokuba laughed quietly, "Why are you afraid of that?"

"Well how do I know you're not just inviting me over to eat me for dinner?" Alice asked with a straight expression. "Or maybe you're planning to poison my food and make me watch Duelist Kingdom Shore?"

By this point Mokuba was holding his side as he let his laughter take control of him. He laughed until he was gasping for air, and then he laughed some more. When he finally stopped he looked at Alice, realizing that she had not joined him.

She had her head turned slightly away from him, but he could tell she was biting her lip. Mokuba recognized the gesture, remembering how she'd bitten her bottom lip when she was worried how he'd react to what she said.

"Ali," Mokuba said carefully. "You're not… serious? Are you?"

"No," she said, her voice cracking. Mokuba raised an eyebrow. "Well not really," Alice amended as she shuffled her feet across the dirt and occasional patches of dried grass. "I know you won't _really _eat me… but I'm still nervous."

"I am too," Mokuba admitted sheepishly.

"Really? Why are you nervous?"

"Probably the same reason you are," he said with a shaky laugh. "Though I doubt it. I'm worried that my brother will say something mean… or you'll run out of the house as soon as you see him and hate me forever," Mokuba confessed, a sick expression on his face.

"I'm nervous because I don't want to make a bad impression, not after how much you're looking forward to this. But I promise, no matter how bad it gets I won't run away screaming," she said reassuringly as she bumped his shoulder with her own.

"Thanks Alice, really. I think once you get past the initial," Mokuba searched for the right word, "Shock, you'll get along great with him. I think you two would even make an amazing couple," he added with sly grin and a wink.

Alice gasped and put her hand over her heart, "Why Mokuba, are you setting me up?"

Mokuba waggled his eyebrows at her, "Maybe I am."

The pair shared a laugh at their horrible acting skills, failing to notice the blonde man that stood in their way as they approached the gate leading to the road.

"Well, this is unexpected." The man said as he pushed off the fence he was leaning against. Alice stiffened at the sound of his voice, so very familiar. Grasping Mokuba's wrist firmly she pulled him to a stop, causing a half smile to form on the man's face. "Didn't expect you to have company, this complicates things," he admitted sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Who are you?" Mokuba asked at the same moment Alice muttered "Lucas." under her breath.

"And what do you want?" Alice added louder, her voice trembling slightly, praying that neither had heard her previous statement. _What are they doing here!?_ She wanted to shout at him._ They can't have come for me yet…_

"We are Shadows." The answer hadn't come from Luke. Alice and Mokuba's heads snapped to their right where a figure had suddenly appeared from seemingly nowhere. His white hair stood out strikingly against the green and yellow trees behind him; _Hayden_.

From those trees emerged another figure, who jumped the fence with ease, his face expressionless as he looked Alice and Mokuba over. The man had dark skin that was pulled tightly over his well muscled arms. His head was completely bald, though he had a black goatee to make up for his lack of hair. His eyes were a piercing and emotionless gray. She had no idea if the man was Nigel or Damien, but once he spoke she knew without a doubt.

"And we want the boy," he supplied calmly as he and Hayden began to approach them; _Nigel._

A dry laugh came from opposite the two, and Alice glanced over her shoulder to see that two others had come out of the trees on their left. The man who had laughed was smiling at Alice with a cynical smile as he said, "I'd rather have you though gorgeous." She clenched her teeth together as she fought the urge to punch him.

"Shut up, Zack," said the figure next to the gawking redhead. He was muscular like the others, like all Shadows, but unlike them he was short and stout. He had creamy pale skin and light blue dreads that hung around his full face. His eyes were only a few shades darker than his hair, and they were glaring at Zack as he said, "We came for the boy and that's _all_ we're here for."

"Damien's right," Luke said as he took a step closer to Alice and Mokuba, who were now clutching each other. Luke directed his words to Alice as he said smoothly, "If you just let us take the kid we'll leave you alone, no one has to get hurt."

_Mokuba!?_ Alice thought confused, _Why do they want Mokuba!?_

Before Alice could respond Mokuba was pushing her behind him, "I'll go with you, just leave her be."

"Mokuba," Alice hissed as she proceeded to spin him behind her. She faced the five imposing men in front of her and schooled her expression, "What do you want with him?"

Hayden responded first, his tone more soothing than she would have liked, "We don't _really_ want the kid, it's his brother we're after."

"What?" Alice asked as her nails dug into the palm of her left hand while her right held Mokuba behind her. _It's not possible. No, no, no. Please…_

"She doesn't know," Damien said slowly as he narrowed his eyes at her, "She really doesn't know." He sounded amused at the idea.

"Kaiba has something we want," Nigel said simply. "And in order to get it we need the boy."

Despite the urgency of the moment, Alice turned to look at Mokuba with new eyes. She could see it now, it was so obvious. The limo, the neglectful brother, that trademark smirk; _I'm so stupid! I even talked to him on the phone!_ She swallowed the lump in her throat and looked into Mokuba's violet eyes, so different from his brother's. "Kaiba?" She asked him. It shouldn't matter now, but she had to be sure.

Mokuba closed his eyes and nodded sadly, "Mokuba Kaiba." he confirmed. "I'm sorry. I was going to tell you tonight. _We_, were going to tell you tonight. I didn't mean to lie to you, but…"

"We'll talk about this later," Alice said sharply as she struggled to compose herself. _Mokuba Kaiba! Seriously!?_ "Right now we need to focus on getting you out of here. Just run for it, I'll keep them busy."

"I'm not leaving you," Mokuba began, however Zack cut him off.

"As cute as this is, we'll be taking the kid now," he said with a harsh laugh as he reached for Mokuba.

Without thinking about it, Alice let her fist fly, where it connected with Zack's nose with a sickening crunch. He stumbled backward and would have fallen had Hayden not caught and steadied him.

"That… that _bitch_ broke my nose!" Zack sputtered as blood began to trickle down from the broken appendage.

"Nice punch," Mokuba commented, nodding in approval.

Nigel chuckled deeply as he looked at Alice with a new light in his eyes, "The kitten has claws."

"You should never underestimate your opponent," Alice said smugly as she shook out her left hand. Something shifted in Hayden's expression as she said this and he looked from her left hand up to her face.

"You seem familiar," Hayden said cautiously as he continued to support Zack's weight, preventing him from looking at her closer.

"It doesn't matter who she is," Damien said harshly, "Let's just do what we came to do and leave."

There was a small argument that broke out among the men and Alice took the opportunity to try and convince Mokuba to flee. But he just shook his head at her stubbornly.

"Why won't you just go?" She hissed under her breath, trying to remain partly silent so that the arguing Shadows didn't notice.

"Do you remember what you told me after those guys beat me up in the park?" He asked her, his eyes so clear it frightened her. "You said that being strong wasn't about how much strength you have, but how much courage you have and if you are willing to stand against something when it's wrong. This," Mokuba muttered as he gestured to the Shadows who were thankfully still arguing. "This is wrong, _they_ are wrong. And leaving you now would be even worse. They want me, if anything _you_ should run. But I know you won't, because you're brave too."

Alice growled at him as she glared at the Shadows, who seemed to have almost decided what to do. "I hate it when you quote me," she said with a huff as she dropped her backpack to the ground.

"Enough talk. Damien and I will take care of the girl, you can get the kid." Nigel said as he and Damien made a beeline toward Alice.

"Here we go." Alice muttered as she let her fighting experience takeover. She might have never trained with them, but she had watched them, so she knew all of their moves and tendencies. She saw Mokuba kick Zack in the thigh as he, Luke, and Hayden tried to drag him away. But she couldn't get to him to help because Nigel and Damien where closing fast.

_Think,_ Alice commanded herself. _What are they going to do… Damien is a sadist so he'll go for the most painful attack and drag this out._ Nigel however will go straight for the attack, wanting to end the fight as fast as possible, probably go for my legs so I'm off balance. He'll_ definitely_ attack first.

Just as the thought occurred to her Nigel lunged for her right leg. She brought her knee up just in time and it slammed into his jaw, knocking him backward and sending him reeling. She started toward Mokuba, who was struggling to get away from the other three, but before she could get half a step Damien's pale hands reached out and grasped her by the hair, dragging her away from Mokuba roughly.

Alice yelped in pain, but focused her mind. If they were going to get out of this she'd have to be at her very best. Bringing her elbow back sharply into Damien's abdomen, she caused him to gasp, his hold on her hair loosening. She then slammed her head back against his own, pulling her hair completely free as she whirled around to face him.

"Impossible," Damien squeaked out as Alice kicked him square in the chest, propelling him into Nigel who had almost recovered from her first attack.

With the spare moment Alice had as Nigel and Damien struggled to untangle themselves, she turned back to Mokuba and felt her blood boil. Zack, Hayden, and Luke all had a hand on him, effectively restraining him from retaliating.

Acting on impulse, Alice picked up her bag and chunked it at the three Shadows. It connected with Hayden's left shoulder, causing them to drop Mokuba who scrambled to his feet, fisting his hands. Luke glanced cautiously between Mokuba and Alice, and then yelled at Hayden to help the others.

_At least now Mokuba has a better chance of escaping_, Alice thought with relief as she tensed, watching as Hayden walked toward her with measured steps, rolling his shoulder as he walked. Everything Hayden did was exact, precise, he never made errors and he never left himself open for retaliation. From what she had seen from his sparing sessions he was nearly perfect. He was unpredictable and extremely clever. _This is going to be close_, Alice worried as Hayden made it to her and immediately attacked.

Hayden attempted to sweep Alice's feet out from under her, but unlike when Nigel had tried, Alice found herself stumbling to avoid the move. She tried to kick his right knee as she righted herself, but he saw the move and seemed to dance out of the way. Hayden mimicked her move, but it was similarly ineffective. The pair traded hits for a few moments, neither of them landing any because the other would dodge at the last moment. Hayden eventually managed to get a few good hits to Alice's stomach, and Alice in turn had punched him in the neck.

Alice had always wanted to spare with Hayden, above all the other Shadows she thought he would have been able to keep pace with her. And she was right. There was no clear winner as they traded blows and dodged each other's attacks. It was almost nice to finally be able to fight someone who was equally as good as she was. It was exhilarating. Alice began laughing without any thought, the liberation of a fair fight making her giddy. Hayden's expression was equally as thrilled as Alice's, and soon he was laughing along with her as they tried to knock each other unconscious.

Alice and Hayden's laughter distracted Zack and Luke long enough for Mokuba to get in a good punch to Luke's eye and a swift kick to Zack's already bruised thigh. Their fight was much slower and clumsier; more than once Zack had accidentally punched Luke instead of Mokuba. They were having a hard time keeping a hold of him. It wasn't because he was physically stronger than them, but he was quicker and when you're fighting for your life you do tend to fight harder.

The fights on both ends showed no signs of concluding, both sides seemed to be holding their own. But Nigel and Damien had finally recovered from Alice's initial attacks and were now ready to rejoin the fray. Alice failed to notice that they had regained their footing, so when she dodged Hayden's right hook she stumbled into Nigel. He held her tightly against himself as Damien reached into his jacket and then his hand flashed forward.

Before Alice could process the movement she felt a sharp pain in her lower abdomen. Damien took a step back from her, a satisfied look on his face. She looked down at her stomach in alarm, eyes widening in terror as she realized a knife handle was protruding from her left side. Her eyes flashed up, locking with Hayden's pink and purple ones. She was surprised to find that Hayden looked as shocked as she felt, his eyes flickering between her face and the knife.

Alice began to feel dizzy, her head lolled forward and she would have slumped to the ground if Nigel hadn't been supporting her weight. She hurt so much. There was so much pain. So much blood. She was trembling, trembling all over. She was weak, she was lost. Where was she? Why did she hurt? And why, why did she feel so _**alive**_.

It began raining while the sun shined down on the fight; the warm water droplets hitting the still frozen winter ground causing steam to form. Nigel let go of Alice and she fell to her knees in the newly formed mud.

"Hayden!" Zack yelled over as Mokuba struck him in the face, "Ooph. We could use some help with the kid! Leave the girl, she's done fighting."

Alice didn't see Hayden leave, but she could feel as he left her to help with Mokuba. She could also feel Damien and Nigel standing on either side of her, watching her. They were waiting to see if she'd get up, or if she'd stay down like Zack thought she would. Alice's trembling stopped as she felt an overwhelming calm settle over her. Alice didn't need to hear or see her to know that Aeris was suddenly there, offering to help without words.

It started to rain harder and the sun shown brighter as Alice struggled to get to her feet, her heels digging into the mud as she pulled herself upright. It was oddly dark around them, but no one seemed to notice the change. It was a bit too hot to be winter, yet no one seemed to care. Alice was gasping for air by the time she was finally standing, but she was up, and that's all she needed.

"It's time to put the kitten down," Nigel said roughly as he took out two knives and handed one to Damien.

Both men lunged for her but she was far from ready to give up. She kicked out at Nigel as he tried to slash at her chest. Her kick connected, but so did Nigel's blade as it cut straight through the white leather of her boot and down into her skin. Alice jerked her leg back quickly, making the gash worse. It was a price she had to pay though because she needed her leg to help block Damien's assault next. He was able to make a few shallow cuts to Alice's face and arms, but nothing that was as serious as the knife in her stomach or the gash on her right calf.

Nigel stabbed again, attempting to catch her in the chest, but she was ready. A surge of electricity went through Alice and she grasped his arm with both of her own. Using his momentum she flipped him over her head and onto his back. Once he was there, she pulled sharply up on his arm and heard a low pop. Nigel let go of his knife and began to roll around in the mud as the rain pelted him, withering on the ground and howling in agony. Alice was sure she'd only dislocated his shoulder, but the sound of his screaming still sent a shudder through her body.

Alice was so focused on Nigel that she didn't notice Damien behind her until he spun his knife around and drove it into her right shoulder. He jerked it out quickly, leaving Alice breathless. Damien did a quick arc with the knife, slashing Alice across her back and sending her to her knees again.

Mokuba was fairing better than Alice at this point. He had almost managed to pull away from the three Shadows when his foot connected with Hayden's groin. Hayden collapsed to the ground wheezing for air, his legs pressed tightly together.

"Damn it!" Luke yelled as he tried to restrain Mokuba's flying limbs. "Forget the girl and come help us!"

Nigel grunted with effort as he got to his feet and hurried over to his team's side. But Damien stayed where he was, glaring at Alice murderously.

"I'm not done with this bitch yet," he sneered as he picked up his foot and kicked her sharply in the back.

The force caused Alice to fall forward, further impaling the knife in her abdomen. She let out a shrill cry as she hit the ground, convulsing in pain. Damien smirked sadistically as he listened to her tortured cries. He then spit on Alice's back as the rain ran down his flushed face. "Nice try, whore," he snarled viciously.

"NO! Alice!?" Mokuba screeched as he saw the short, blue haired man kick her in the side while she lay in the mud. He tried to get to her but Luke knocked him across the head and he fell lifeless to the ground, unconscious.

Hearing Mokuba's voice, Alice received another jolt of electricity and reached out, grasping the knife Nigel had left on the ground. It was coated in mud but it served its purpose as she drove it down into Damien's boot. Damien howled in pain as he fell backward. He quickly removed the knife, letting out another yell as it came free. When he pulled himself to his feet, or rather foot, he began hobbling toward Alice.

"I am going to KILL you! Worthless harlot!" He shrieked as he tried to hop his way toward her.

"Damien! There's no time, we're leaving." Nigel commanded as he ran toward him. "We've got the kid, that's what we came here for."

Damien swore loudly but accepted Nigel's help. Together they limped and hopped toward the gray van that was parked on the street. Zack, Luke, and Hayden were already picking up Mokuba and heading for the van.

"No…" Alice coughed as she shakily got to her feet. She stumbled forward but remained upright. "Stop!" She yelled at them, but they kept going as if they didn't hear her. The rain hadn't stopped falling, the sun hadn't quit shinning, and Alice… Alice was _**angry**_. As she watched them drag Mokuba toward their van, Alice felt a surge of hatred so strong that she saw blue. She'd heard that when your anger finally takes over your body that you see red, but all Alice could see was blue. And she gave in. Letting the anger, the electricity, take her over.

The clouds rumbled loudly, as if responding to her anger. A bolt of blue lightning shot out from the clouds and struck in between the Shadows and the van. Startled, they dropped Mokuba, scurrying away from the piece of scorched earth in front of them.

**"I said stop."**Alice called out calmly, her voice ringing subtly.

The Shadows scrambled back to their feet, all of them looking at Alice with an expression of horror and awe.

"She's some kind of demon," Zack squeaked as he took a half step back.

"That is indeed not natural," Hayden said as rubbed a hand across his face.

Alice had no idea what they were talking about, but she felt her arm move of its own accord, electricity humming through her body. She grasped the knife's handle with her left hand, looked down at the silver metal embedded in her body, then back up at the Shadows.

She smiled maliciously, letting Aeris' words flow out of her,**"You have done damage to my vessel. But do not fret, I shall return the favor."**

Lightning began to strike the ground all around the Shadows, flashing brilliant blue across the sunny sky as the rain hounded down on them. The wind was blowing chaotically, shifting its direction with each bolt of lightning that hit the ground. The electricity that scorched through Alice's veins was seeping out of her, infesting the ground, the trees, the grass, even the sky; everything sizzled with the blue electricity, electricity so alive it seemed to be sentient, flickering like flames.

"She's insane!" Nigel yelled as he shielded his eyes from the bright flashing, jumping back with a yelp when one of the lightning strikes hit too close for comfort.

"That doesn't matter," Luke said while trying to keep calm. "We need to get out of here. Get the kid!"

The Shadows attempted to grab Mokuba, but the lightning strikes were forming a wall around the unconscious boy. While they struggled to avoid the deadly blue electricity, a stray bolt hit the ground so close to Damien that his clothing quickly caught fire. Even with the rain drenching them with its constant downpour his clothes still burned. Zack tried to help him put out the fire, but ended up making it worse and catching fire himself.

"Damn it!" Luke cursed as he locked eyes with Alice. Everything went still for a moment as his ocean blue eyes connected with nearly black green irises. "Let's go! Leave the kid."

Luke roughly pushed Damien into the mud and water that had pooled on the ground. The flames quickly extinguished, and Hayden mimicked his move and shoved Zack to the ground. The lightning continued to strike, and it didn't abate until the van was driving away, a gray spec in the distance.

Alice unclenched her fists, letting her hand fall away from the knife that was still embedded in her gut. As she did this she felt the energy retreat from her, flowing back to where it had come from, leaving her feeling slightly empty.

"Thank you." She breathed as the lightning ceased and the rain returned to a soft downpour. Alice shuddered gently as she felt the chill of the winter air return, the strange darkness gone as well.

_**"****I promised you I would be with you no matter what the circumstance,"**_ Aeris said kindly, _**"And I meant every word."**_

Alice stumbled her way over to her unconscious best friend who lay in a large mud puddle, his lanky frame seeming smaller somehow as she knelt beside him. His black hair was plastered to his face with water, dirt, and mud. He had bruises up and down his arms, and his ankle appeared to be swelling, but other than that he looked unharmed.

"Mokuba," Alice said as she shook him slightly. "Mokie! Please get up, I need your help."

Mokuba lazily opened his eyes, violet meeting light green. He seemed confused but he accepted Alice's help and soon they were standing, supporting each other's weight.

"I won't be able to carry you this time," Alice admitted as she wrapped her right arm around his waist. "So we're going to have to get to my house by helping each other."

Alice's words seemed to shake some reality into Mokuba's dazed expression, "Your house? Why your house."

"Because Mokuba, hospitals are a bad idea. I don't like them." It was the truth, but only part of it. If they showed up to the hospital they'd basically be handing themselves over to the Shadows.

"Well, if we can't go to the hospital then let's just go to my house," Mokuba argued as he shifted and took some of Alice's weight onto his side. "My house is much closer, and we can get help there."

It seemed that Mokuba's head was starting to clear and so was Alice's as she realized, "Hang on, we have cell phones."

Both teenagers pulled out their phones, only to be find them malfunctioning because of all the water.

"Come on," Mokuba insisted, "Let's go to my house. My brother will take care of us."

"Your brother…" Alice repeated quietly as they began half walking, half limping toward the gate they had yet to reach.

"I'm really sorry Ali, I did want to tell you," Mokuba paused, as if to consider his words. "Okay, so I didn't want to tell you. But who would want to ruin a friendship by saying 'hey, you know that guy with no sense of humor and a permanent scowl? Yeah, he's my brother.' You were the first person I EVER met who had no idea who I was and well, it was nice." He smiled gently at her as they dragged themselves down the sidewalk.

Alice was glad to see that he was still able to smile, it warmed her heart. If anything had happened to him she would have never forgiven herself. "I know Mokie," she said as she patted his arm reassuringly. "It's just a lot to process. I mean… Kaiba! Mokuba Kaiba!"

Mokuba gave her a dry laugh which turned into a fit of coughs. After that they decided they should save their energy and stay quiet. It took them over ten minutes to make the rest of the five minute walk, but eventually they were in front of the Kaiba Mansion gates and Mokuba was punching in the code. It took another few minutes to get up the steep and ridiculously long driveway, but Mokuba seemed to have regained some of his energy and he pulled Alice along.

"Seto!" Mokuba yelled as he swung open the front door. He was greeted with silence, so he looked at Alice hesitantly. "Stay here, I'll go find him."

"Don't be silly, I'll come with you." She argued, her voice far more breathy than it should be.

Mokuba shook his head sharply and led her to the stairs on the left side. He leaned her against the banister to the stairs. _Since when was Mokuba supporting my weight,_ Alice thought as the room spun around her. She had always wondered what the Kaiba Mansion would look like. The room wouldn't stop revolving long enough for her to get a good look.

"Stay here," Mokuba commanded over his shoulder as he stumbled his way up the stairs.

"Mokie," Alice groaned. She attempted to follow him. She couldn't feel her legs. _What? Why can't I follow him!? _She thought in a panic. She tried to climb the stairs. Nothing happened.

_**"I used a great deal of energy fending off your Shadows,"**_ Aeris said solemnly. _**"I have been blocking most of the pain from your body, but it seems that it is not enough. You are more injured than I first thought."**_

Alice leaned her head back against the banister. She had no strength. No reason to fight any longer. _So when we were walking up the driveway, it wasn't that Mokuba had more energy suddenly, but that I had less?_

_**"****Precisely. I am impressed that your brain is still functioning at this point. Very impressed." **_Aeris admitted, her tone somewhat bitter. But the bitterness disappeared as she added, _**"Though even you can not win against fatigue. I suggest you prepare to pass out."**_

"No," Alice moaned out loud. "Not here… not in his house."

Alice could hear footsteps approaching. Fast footsteps. She was vaguely aware that she had slid down the banister. She was now sitting on the stairs. Her back was pressed against the railing.

_The room is still spinning,_ Alice thought numbly._ But there is blue. A brilliant cobalt blue. Why is everything blue._ She heard her name. She felt a warm hand on her cheek. Without thought Alice fell forward into the blueness. Her arms wrapped around it. She heard her name again. It sounded more panicked. The blueness wrapped its arms around her. She smelled cologne. Cologne. Soap. Coffee. Roses. The blueness smelled nice. The blueness was speaking again. Alice's head cleared suddenly, but only for a moment.

"Seto," she breathed with relief. Alice could feel the blackness of the abyss threatening to swallow the blue. She gripped his shoulders weakly, determined to warn him before she went under. Alice pressed her lips to his ear as the darkness flared up and mumbled, "No hospitals." And then the blueness was gone.

[_A/N: From the fight scene in the field onward was the first idea I ever had for this story, I was SOOOOO happy I finally got to write it! Did you guys like it? Review and let me know :)_ ]


	19. Morphine

[_A/N: These are the brackets I normally fill with meaningless nonsense about my life. Blah, blah, blah… OMG! New YGOTAS episode :D My inspiration has been revived!_]

***Disclaimer*** (The problem isn't that I don't own Seto, or the rest of the "Yu-Gi-Oh!" characters… the problem is that Seto doesn't own ME! That's the real problem here.)

**Chapter 19 – Morphine**

It wasn't as if waking up in strange places was new to her. It happened far too often these days if she was being honest. There was no need for her to panic, this was nothing new. But what _was_ new to Alice was the circumstances of her waking; cold and surprisingly numb, in a hot shower, fully clothed, with Seto holding her bridal style.

Alice's thoughts were still very muddled. She wasn't even really sure if she could feel the pain of her injuries. It took her a moment to realize Seto was talking to her.

"What?" She mumbled quietly as she grasped his trench coat weakly for support.

"I said, are you actually conscious this time?"

"This time?" Alice croaked, her voice thick with sleep she hadn't intended to get.

Seto smirked at her, "You've been in and out for about fifteen minutes. Now that you've finally come to, do you think you can stand on your own, or would you like me to help you shower?"

He was still smirking at her. She was wearing shreds for clothes, in a shower, with blood everywhere, and he was smirking at her? _Sadist,_ Alice thought with a surprising sense of fondness_, and here I was thinking my knees were weak before._

"I can try," she muttered, trying to keep her tone neutral.

Seto shifted her out of his arms, her feet gingerly touching the tile floor. He stayed kneeling in front of her as she tried to steady herself. Once she regained her balance she looked to him with every intention of thanking him, but the angry gleam in his eyes confused her long enough for him to stand and begin barking orders.

"A hot shower should help bring up your body temperature," he said as he put his hand on her forehead so forcefully that she felt like he was smacking her rather than taking her temperature. "Who the hell wears this little clothing in the winter." He accused acidicly under his breath.

"In all fairness it wasn't this skimpy when I put it on," Alice retorted a little breathlessly as Kaiba guided her backward into the shower's warm assault.

Kaiba simply scowled at her and chose to ignore her comment, "I'll go get my physician for you, he should be done with Mokuba by now."

Alice grabbed his arm, "Is he alright?"

He stared down at the bloodstained hand she had placed on him and responded statically, "He's fine."

"Are you alright?" She asked cautiously, withdrawing her hand.

She regretted her question immediately as Kaiba remained eerily silent. When he finally did speak his voice held so much ice in it she was sure it could freeze the sun, "You can use my soap while I go get the doctor."

The pain in her abdomen increased tenfold, delaying any attempt to apologize for being so forward. Alice hunched around the knife that was still embedded in her side, trying to minimize the stretching of all the damaged skin. Seto started forward but she quickly waved him away.

"I'm fine. It wasn't hurting a moment ago," she whispered as the gash across her back flared painfully as well.

_**"****I can't hold off the pain indefinitely you know,"**_ Aeris informed her bitterly.

"You need to be treated now," Seto insisted as he opened the glass door of the shower to leave. "The shower can wait."

"Hold on," Alice gasped, trying to keep her knees from noticeably shaking. Seto hesitated for a moment and that was all she needed. "I can take care of this myself, all I need is the supplies."

"Don't be an idiot. I have a personal physician for myself and Mokuba, he can patch you up as well." Seto argued.

"I'd prefer to do it myself," she muttered back. "Just get me the supplies…please."

Seto looked her over; she was really in bad shape, she shouldn't even be standing. And why she would refuse a doctor's help was beyond him. But he remembered all of the medical supplies that had been scattered across the island in her kitchen and knew she was capable of fixing herself up. The question was why. Why did she have so much medical knowledge, and why was she adamant on not seeing his physician? There were plenty of other questions he had for her, but he chose not to voice any of them.

"Fine, but stay in the shower, you're still freezing. And wash off some of that mud and blood." He ordered before turning and stalking out of his bathroom, tracking water with him as he went.

Kaiba checked in several rooms for the doctor, but he found the task more difficult than he would have thought. He tried to ignore the maids that were trailing behind him, desperately trying to clean up the water he was tracking through his home before it hit the wooden floors. Under normal circumstances he would have found their anxiety amusing, but at the moment it was purely annoying.

He found the doctor's bag before he found the actual doctor, so he just took what he thought Alice would need from the bag and made his way back to the shower.

Less than five minutes had passed, but during that time his bathroom had filled with steam. If he had not left the glass door to the shower open, he was sure there would have been no way to see the site he was now witnessing. Seto froze in the doorway, staring.

Her body was slumped against the glass wall, her chest heaving as if she were unable to take in enough oxygen. By all rights she should look flushed from the hot water, but her skin remained deathly pale.

She had taken his advice and stayed in the shower at least. Most of the blood and mud was gone, her hair and clothing were now soaked thoroughly… well what little clothing she still had on that is.

A discarded pair of white boots, black socks, and a shredded pink blazer littered the floor of the shower. The blue pleated skirt and white button up shirt Alice had worn were still thankfully on her body. However, the shirt had a few too many buttons undone, revealing the top of her lime green bra and a generous amount of cleavage. The transparency of the shirt left little else to the imagination, but imagine he did. The rips and tears in both the shirt and skirt revealed more skin then Seto had ever seen Alice display. If it wasn't for the knife sticking out of her stomach it would have been something out of one of his fantasies.

Seto cleared his throat, "I brought the supplies." She was able to make him forget why he had been angry in the first place, a trait she shared with his younger brother.

When she didn't respond he quickly set everything down on the counter and stepped into the shower with her again. She remained perfectly still, except for the heaving of her exposed chest.

"Alice?" He asked hesitantly, trying to remind himself that Alice was far from alright and now was not the time for admiring the view. She looked up at him slowly, her eyes darker than he'd ever seen them. "I got the medical supplies for you."

She blinked at him, as if not understanding his words, and then spoke with a rough voice, **"What kind of supplies?"**

Alice sounded as if she had a cold, or perhaps something caught in her throat, but Seto answered nonetheless. "Bandages, suture kit, some kind of disinfectant, things like that. Also I brought painkillers, hydrocodone and the doctor even had some morphine in his bag."

Seto reached out to feel her temperature again, and was surprised when she warded off his attempt. She looked at him with eyes devoid of expression as she spoke again, **"Painkillers first, the hydrocodone. We will need to be awake for this and morphine, though affective, does not react well to our system."**

Though she was acting strange, Seto stepped out of the shower and grabbed the hydrocodone for her. "We?" He questioned as he stepped back under the warm torrent of water with her. He waited until she looked up at him before handing her the bottle.

Again Alice remained silent as she opened the bottle, took three out, and then used the shower water to swallow the pills. She turned back to him with her nearly black eyes and blank expression, pressing the hydrocodone bottle back into his waiting hand. When he left she had been hunched in pain, and though she was still breathing heavily she seemed to be in better shape, even if she was acting strange.

**"I will require clothing soon."** She informed him in a monotone voice.

"Of course," Seto responded instantly. He was still confused about her tone of voice and the way she was acting, it seemed almost familiar to him. Shaking off the thought he asked, "Is there anything else?"

**"Not working quickly enough,"** she muttered to herself, seeming not to hear his question.

Kaiba grunted in annoyance and turned to leave her to her shower, but she spoke again, this time directly to him.

**"****Wait,"** she called, and there was something in her voice besides what he had heard so far. Her voice was still rough, but there was some undercurrent to it. **"I need you to help me with something."**

He turned around to face her reluctantly, and had just enough time to register that her eyes were their normal emerald color, and they where smoldering dangerously. Alice grabbed the front of his trench coat and practically fell into him. On instinct Seto caught her, her wet body molding to his and her arms wrapping around his neck.

She kissed him furiously, and though he was stunned he couldn't help but respond to her sudden passion. Alice was holding him to her with bruising force, as if she were afraid he would stop her. But Seto had no intention of ending their embrace, in fact he was very much content with the current situation.

Seto leaned his head back against the glass wall, inhaling deeply as Alice began planting numerous kisses along his jaw. She ran her hands up his stomach to his shoulders, pushing his trench coat down his arms, and revealing his tight black shirt.

"You know, if this is the kind of help you needed I'm more than happy to oblige." He chuckled smugly as she began trailing her kisses down his neck. "However, we should treat your injuries first."

"I'm working on it," Alice growled in between kisses.

"What?" Seto questioned right before her teeth sank into his shoulder. He let out a stream of expletives as he tightened his grip on her waist, wincing in pain. This was not a playful grazing of the teeth, this was full on bite, her jaw locked in place. Before he could react with more than a few angry words about Obelisk she screamed into his shoulder. The sound of metal hitting tile followed and then her knees buckled. She went limp in his arms, head lolling back away from him.

Seto stared between his sore shoulder, the limp girl in his arms, and the bloody knife on the shower floor. It all clicked into place and he crushed Alice against his chest, running a shaking hand through her wet hair.

"You stupid, stupid girl." He groaned, pressing his cheek against hers and feeling how cold her body still was. "Was that really necessary?" He demanded angrily.

Alice muttered something he couldn't hear into his neck.

"It doesn't matter, I'm going to get the doctor now." And though he said the words he made no move to let her go.

"No, please." She begged, weakly pulling herself back to look up at him. "I've done this before, well not the biting part," she admitted, and Seto was sure if she had had enough blood in her body she would have blushed. "I can manage, just let me try."

She seemed to have returned to her usual self, if anything at least her voice was normal; although, her actions did seem strange at best. He stared at her skeptically, "You're sure?"

"Yes."

"Alright then," Seto said as he let go of her slowly and made sure she could stand on her own. "I'll go find you something to wear. I'm just in the other room if you need any more of that kind of 'help'," he finished suggestively.

At this Alice did blush, much to his satisfaction, so Seto left the bathroom with a large smirk on his face.

_Even with hardly any blood in her body, I can still make her blush, _he thought smugly as he closed the door to the bathroom. _Damn I'm good._

Seto quickly changed into some dry clothes, another trench coat combo of course, and then began looking through his closet for something Alice could wear. It took him a few minutes but eventually he found a blue, long sleeved, button up shirt that the maids had accidently shrunk in the wash. It should still be big enough though, meaning he wouldn't have to find her any pants, and he smirked at the thought as he went to find Mokuba and the doctor.

In the kitchen, Mokuba and the physician were drinking hot chocolate while Mokuba told the story of the fight for the umpteenth time.

"…to get me, but I was too strong for them. Then the guy with white hair was back, so I had three guys trying to drag me away!" Mokuba said enthusiastically to the physician who was trying, unsuccessfully, to get him to calm down.

"Reliving the experience of your sixteenth kidnapping attempt for anyone who will listen are we, Mokuba?" Seto mocked as he took the hot chocolate out of his brother's hand and glared at the doctor. "Why are you giving my normally hyper brother chocolate? Shouldn't you be making him drink water or get some bed rest? You know, something useful."

"Chill out bro," Mokuba said as he took the doctor's hot chocolate and began drinking it instead. "The hot chocolate is supposed to help warm me up, I'm feeling better already, honest!"

"Uh-huh," he said skeptically.

"Mista Kaiba, is it time fer me tah attend tah tha girl?" The physician asked impatiently.

"No. In fact your work here is done, so get out of my house," Kaiba grumbled as he sniffed the hot chocolate disdainfully. He set the syrupy drink down on the counter and began to make himself a cup of coffee.

"But mista Kaiba, sir," the physician sputtered. "I know ya were adamant that I attend to mista Mokuba first, but now that I 'ave, I should really begin work on 'er. She can't beh in any better shape than–"

"I said no, Williams. I pay you to do what I say, not question me. Speaking of pay, you've already gotten it for fixing up Mokuba, so leave." He said cruelly.

Doctor Williams seemed flabbergasted as he sat staring at Kaiba with a mixture of annoyance and worry swirled together on his face.

"Geez, Seto." Mokuba said around his cup of hot chocolate. "Did Ali break up with you or something?" He turned to the doctor, "It's alright, Jasper. My brother's thankful, he just really sucks at showing it. Come on, I'll walk you to the door." Kaiba scowled at his little brother until he left the room.

"Australians." Seto muttered disdainfully under his breath as he finished up his coffee and started heading back to his room. Mokuba however caught up despite his injuries and stopped him just outside the door.

"What is wrong with you?" Mokuba demanded as he crossed his arms, "I know you're usually pissy, but that was bizarre, even for you."

"There is nothing wrong, Mokuba," he growled as he grabbed the door knob and pushed through. "Now get lost."

"Seto!" Mokuba gasped, catching the door just before it slammed closed.

"Get out, Mokuba." Kaiba said angrily as he set his coffee down and turned to face his brother.

"Why are you so angry, and why won't you talk to me?" Mokuba demanded, throwing Kaiba's anger right back at him.

"Now isn't the time, Mokuba." Kaiba replied, trying to force himself to calm down. "You shouldn't be stressing yourself out while you're healing, go take a nap or something."

"No. Not until you talk to me." Mokuba said stubbornly.

"I said not now. Alice is in the shower and I, what?" Kaiba barked as Mokuba began laughing. His laughter quickly turned into a fit of coughing and he grabbed his ribs, wincing in pain.

Kaiba grabbed his brother and forced him to sit down on his bed. "Damn it, Mokuba! The doctor said laughing might hurt you."

"I'm sorry big bro," Mokuba said as he messaged his sides, "But it was just too funny to pass up. You're angry 'cause Alice threw you out of the shower, huh?"

Kaiba glared at his little brother, "Shut up, Mokuba."

Mokuba threw the trademarked Kaiba smirk back at his brother, knowing that he was right.

"Now go get some rest." Kaiba added before Mokuba could make anymore surprisingly correct statements.

"Seto," Mokuba pleaded sadly. He stood from the bed, cringing in pain from simply doing that.

Kaiba's expression grew angrier and he clenched his hands. When Mokuba finally straightened up fully and the look of pain vanished, Kaiba's posture relaxed infinitesimally. He ran a hand over his face, before looking into his brother's violet eyes.

"Do you know how worried I was when you came in, muddy and with blood running down your face?"

"I know it will take forever to get the stains out of the carpet," Mokuba began with a smirk, "But honestly–"

"This isn't a joke!" Kaiba snarled. He immediately regretted it when his brother flinched.

"I know that, Seto. But I've had about a dozen kidnap attempts made on me before. I thought by now you would have, you know, come to expect it."

"Expect it? Mokuba, no one, especially a Kaiba, should ever expect to be kidnapped or expect it of their little brother! I removed all traces of our relation from the internet and media sources specifically so people like these Shadows wouldn't use you." Seto said as he tried to find some way to express his outrage that wouldn't scare his brother. "I know you've been kidnapped before," he went on, "But this was different. Before they just used some cheap magic trick and took your soul–"

"Yeah, _just _my soul." Mokuba interrupted jokingly. He saw the expression on his brother's face darken and apologized.

"Your soul would get put back in the end. But this time you could have died, which is something you and Alice don't seem to get!" Seto yelled angrily. He put his hands on Mokuba's shoulders, and stared at him intently, "I could have lost both of you today. I could've lost everything."

"Seto, I'm sorry." Mokuba said as his shoulders shook.

"No, Mokuba." Seto pleaded, "Don't cry kid, it'll just hurt as much as laughing did."

"You're right," Mokuba nodded as he rubbed his sleeve across his eyes. "I'm going to go 'take a nap or something' and let us both cool off. I'll come back later."

"Sounds good," Seto said relieved as he reached for his coffee he'd yet to taste.

Mokuba paused at the door and said with a sheepish smile, "Just promise me you won't molest Ali or anything."

"Get out." Kaiba commanded.

"Ohkay, I'm going!" Mokuba called as he shut the door quickly before his brother could do anything else.

Seto could still hear the shower running and when he opened the door to the bathroom he was assaulted by a thick wall of steam. The glass of the shower was fogged up so completely that he couldn't even see Alice's outline. _How disappointing_, he thought as he put the clean shirt on the counter with the medical supplies. That's when he noticed her shredded uniform in a pile outside the shower.

"Alice?" He called as he bent to pick up the pile of clothing. There was a loud thud followed by some shuffling; apparently she hadn't heard him enter.

"Yeah?" She responded after a moment's pause.

Seto smirked at her obvious distress, "I left the clothes on the counter next to the medical supplies. What do you want me to do with your old clothes?"

"Oh, just throw them out. They're ruined anyway."

"All of them?" Seto asked as he fingered the lace of her lime green bra.

"Yes please," she squeaked, realizing what he was probably doing.

Seto left the bathroom without another word and closed the door as loudly as he could. He continued to stare at the lace bra, confused. It looked strange, and it took him a moment to see that one of the straps had been cut clean through and the band was literally being held together by a single thread. He set the ruined boots down and tossed all of the clothes into his fireplace, lighting a fire in it not only to get rid of the clothes but to warm up his cold room. It hadn't escaped him that there had been no underwear in the pile. So either Alice was going around commando or she still had them with her. Either way he had work he needed to do.

With his laptop, coffee, and diagnostic report, Seto sat down on his bed and began pouring over the data. He opened the report almost reluctantly, but was later satisfied that he had. Over the past five years there had been numerous spikes in the amount of combat damage received throughout the dueling network, even though the system said the safeties were functioning perfectly. The spikes seemed so random and scattered across the globe that both he and his employees had thought nothing of them. Even Pegasus had ridden them off as unavoidable glitches.

Seto heard the shower cut off, but he continued his research without registering the significance of the sound. He had always hated that he wasn't able to explain the reasons for these spikes. Once a few years ago he had even consulted with Pegasus – when they had still been on good terms – and he had confided that it had even occurred in the dueling platforms. Neither had come up with any possible causes for the strange spikes.

Typing on his computer with skilled fingers, Seto began a crosscheck for any corresponding data that could possibly link the spikes. The scan was almost to ninety percent done when he heard the bathroom door open and he finally looked up from his work. He noted that Alice was standing in the doorway, looking annoyed.

"You can't be serious," she said as she gestured to the shirt she was wearing, the long sleeved blue button up shirt he had left for her.

Seto laughed as he closed his laptop and set it aside, "It's the only thing I have that would come even remotely close to fitting you."

"Well what about Mokuba? He should be closer to my size anyway," Alice said as she tugged the bottom of the shirt farther down her thighs.

Seto's eyes darkened, "My brother is not giving up his clothes just so you'll stop whining."

Alice rolled her eyes and muttered under her breathe, "You could have at least gotten me some pants."

"You look better, that shower really improved your sickly complexion… and the smell." Seto mocked with a smile.

"If you're done making fun of me, I could really use your help," she said nervously, biting her lip.

Seto raised his eyebrows suggestively and while taking off his new trench coat. "You must be feeling better," Seto said as he licked his lips.

Alice began blushing furiously and she squeaked, "Not like that. I don't need that kind of help again thank you."

"If you're sure," Seto flirted shamelessly, though he stopped undressing. "You know, I'm surprised after all that blood you lost that you're still able to blush."

Alice's blush darkened several shades and she grumbled under her breath as she retreated back into the bathroom.

"Those painkillers are doing wonders for you because you're back to your complaining self," he called out to her.

She came back into the room scowling but she otherwise ignored his comment. Carrying all of the medical supplies in her arms, Alice placed them on the bed then sat next to Seto. "I was able to clean and fix up most of the cuts on my face, arms, and legs… but there's a few I can't do."

Alice began to move her hair out of the way. Before he could respond, she had turned her back to him and let the blue shirt fall off her shoulders. She kept it against her body but her back was now fully exposed. For a moment Seto was stunned and distracted by the fact that she wasn't wearing a bra, but then he remembered burning it in the fireplace.

"I umm, would normally do it myself, but seeing as I can't reach my back I need your help." Alice admitted shyly over her shoulder, trying to ignore the way Seto's eyes were traveling over her skin.

She had scars of varying sizes peppering the already pale skin of her back. This fact barely registered with Seto as he looked at the fresh cut that went from waist to shoulder, diagonally across her back and the stab wound on her right shoulder. Even though most of the blood had been washed off the wounds still looked horribly painful.

"I'm no doctor, there's no way I can suture up these for you." Seto told her quietly as he pulled the shirt back up her shoulders.

Alice was surprised by his gesture but promised him, "You wouldn't have to stitch up the big cut, just the stab wound. I'll teach you, it's honestly not that difficult."

"This is ridiculous, why didn't you just let my physician take a look at you, or go to a hospital for that matter?"

"I can't tell you," she said sadly, promptly looking away from him.

"You can't tell me. Why do I feel like we've had this conversation before?" Kaiba demanded darkly.

"I'm sorry, really I am. I want to tell you so badly, but not right now, not yet." Alice replied soothingly.

Kaiba stared at her for a long moment before grabbing the suture kit and barking at her, "Tell me what to do."

"I'll do one better," she said happily as she turned on the bed and laid her right leg across his lap. "I didn't suture the stab wound on my leg so I could just show you."

"You were that sure I would agree to this?" Kaiba asked, still seething as he handed Alice the kit.

"It was either you or Mokuba; I figured you wouldn't want your little brother to see me half-naked, that's more your thing." Alice said playfully as she lined up the supplies and began disinfecting the wound.

"Touché," Kaiba said with a small smirk.

Alice walked him through each step that he would need to do, telling him everything she was doing as she did it. About halfway through the process she let him take over so he could get some practice. She watched him intently and pointed out little things he could improve upon, though he was fairly good at it without her help. She still winced a few times during the process but overall it wasn't that bad.

Kaiba noticed her wincing however, "Have you taken the morphine yet?"

Alice shook her head as they wrapped a bandaged around her newly cleaned and sutured wound, "No, it would have made it too difficult to clean most of my injuries."

"Well then take some now, before we start on the worst of it." He insisted as he handed her one of the morphine syringes.

Alice rolled up the sleeve of her shirt and Kaiba could see puncture marks dotting the crease of her elbow. Just like her back, there were a multitude of little scars, most likely caused by syringes like the one she was holding now.

_How could anyone get injured enough to have that many scars, _Seto thought vaguely. _What does she do that would cause this much damage? How much pain has this girl gone through…_

"I know what you're thinking," she said bleakly as she tied off her arm and readied the syringe.

"I highly doubt that," Seto managed to croak as Alice injected herself with the morphine.

"I'm not a heroine addicted or anything, I just get injured, a lot."

All Seto could do was nod. There were too many questions in his head; they were all beginning to mix together.

Alice turned away from him and lowered her shirt again, revealing her back and the numerous scars that spanned it.

He supposed that it should look horrible or ugly even, but they were oddly beautiful. None of her scars were puckered or ragged; each one was smooth and white against her creamy skin. It was mesmerizing, like looking at stained glass or a spider web, the intricate linesran across her entire back. He gritted his teeth together as he disinfected her back, hoping that his lack of experience wouldn't mar her further.

Seto began stitching up the stab wound on her right shoulder, but she was shaking so badly that eventually he made her lay down. It was easier with her flat on her stomach, but he had to sit on her thighs to keep her from moving around too much. While stitching up her back Seto figured this was a better time than any to finally question her.

"Why did you duel Mikaila today?"

"Didn't Mokuba fill you in already?" Alice asked in return.

Seto smiled slyly, "Of course, but he tends to over exaggerate."

"Mokuba? Exaggerate? What a strange concept," she mumbled sarcastically before retelling the events of her date with Duke.

"Huh," Seto said vaguely. "I thought Mokuba was kidding about the knife and the wine glass."

"Nope, that part really happened." Alice answered tonelessly.

"I still don't know why you agreed to go out with Devlin in the first place," Seto grumbled, trying very hard not to jerk his hands in his annoyance. So far he was doing a decent job, he didn't need to mess up now just because of the annoying dice boy.

Alice sighed heavily, "Because I was trying to protect you."

"From what?" Seto asked with a dry laugh.

"The Shadows," she answered honestly, and his laugh died in his throat. Alice went on when the silence became unbearable. "I thought that by saying yes to Duke you would give up on me, unfortunately it had the opposite effect. But I've realized that I can help you just as much without pretending that I hate you. It took me a long time to understand that I can fight the Shadows just as well by your side as in front of you."

Seto sat on her thighs flabbergasted. He hadn't thought she'd actually answer him, let alone be honest. Maybe it was the morphine or she just felt like sharing, either way he was glad she was finally talking.

"Done," he announced seconds later, getting off her thighs so she could sit up.

Alice pulled her shirt back up over her shoulders and rolled her right one cautiously. She turned to face Seto with a wide smile, "You did a nice job, but you aren't done yet."

"Oh?" Seto asked curiously as he looked her over.

Alice began unbuttoning her shirt with clumsy fingers. Seto's eyes widened and glued themselves to the skin she was beginning to expose, his breathing slowing almost to a standstill. She was about halfway through when Seto reached forward and grabbed her hands, stopping her. She looked up at him startled. His eyes were too dark, filled with an emotion so powerful and so wild that it startled her. His hands felt hot and strong against her cold and trembling ones.

"Now really isn't the best time for this, you'll pop your stitches." Seto declared smoothly as he caressed her hands in his own.

Her eyes widened in understanding, face flushing crimson, and mouth opening in wordless horror. It took her a moment to manage a response, but when she did she hit his hands away from her and pushed him back.

"Pervert," she accused in between shaky breaths as she continued to unbutton her shirt.

When the shirt was fully undone she held the top against her chest with one hand then used the other to move aside the left side of the shirt.

The gauze on her stomach was the first thing Seto noticed, the second was much more humorous though; her panties. He couldn't help but laugh at the irony of the situation. Alice was finally doing something provocative, but was she wearing a sexy green thong to match her bra, oh hell no! She was wearing white cotton boyshorts with the words 'Dungeon Dice Monsters' printed boldly in red letters; a cartoon Dark Magician Girl lounging on top of the words.

"Please, please don't tell Duke," Alice begged as she pressed her thighs tighter together, trying to hide her embarrassing taste in underwear. "His ego is big enough already."

Seto only continued to laugh in response. He thought about how the situation would have been different if she _had_ been wearing a thong… or Blue-Eyes White Dragon lingerie. He doubled over laughing, holding his sides that suddenly ached from the unexpected humor. Alice's embarrassment quickly turned into annoyance as she glared at the infamous CEO. He really shouldn't provoke her, but it was too tempting to resist!

"So, do you have a Duel Monsters pair with a Blue-Eyes that you save for _special_ occasions?" He asked with a devilish smirk as he ran his hand up her thigh, leaning over her on the bed.

Alice turned her head away, blushing all the way to the roots of her dark hair. Seto ran his tongue over his lips slowly before sitting back from her with a chuckle.

"I will take that, as a yes." He said smugly as he watched her fumble with the still open flaps of her shirt. His eyes fell to the stark white gauze on her stomach again. As much fun as this was, she was right; he still had to patch up one more injury. Her worst injury. She looked up into his eyes, seeming to sense that he was done teasing her, at least for the moment.

"Alright, let's see how much damage that knife did."

Alice nodded mutely and began peeling back the gauze. It stuck to her skin in some places, but eventually the makeshift bandage was removed. Seto whistled low as he looked at how extensive this one stab wound was. It looked as if someone had taken a pair of pliers to her, trying to rip off not only her outer skin but her muscles as well, layer by layer. Neither Alice nor Seto were squeamish at the sight of blood, yet both grimaced when confronted with the sight.

"I think you might need some more morphine before we try this one," Seto said gruffly as he picked up another syringe and handed it to her.

She shuddered, but took the syringe anyway. Alice looked at him, her eyes pleading, "I should warn you that when I take morphine things tend to get a little… loopy."

"Loopy?" He asked with an amused grin.

"Morphine doesn't react well to my system," she said ignoring him. "Actually it works a little too well. Just promise me you won't let me do anything too stupid _or_," she said stressing the word, "Do anything to me. Promise?"

"No." Seto said simply.

"I'm serious," Alice growled angrily.

"Fine. Boy scouts honor," he said with a scowl.

Once Alice was firmly within the grasps of the euphoric haze induced by the morphine, Seto told her, "Although, I never was a boy scout."

"That's not funny," she said angrily.

"Oh shut up and lie down so I can get started." He commanded. She reluctantly listened and he sat by her feet once she was comfortably sprawled across his bed.

Stitching up her stomach was more difficult than working on her back or leg for a multitude of reasons. The first being that anytime she laughed or coughed his hand would jerk, causing him to mess up which would undoubtedly create quite a nasty scar. The second was of course because there were a lot more places he could look other than the where he should be. Seto found himself getting distracted so frequently that at one point he had to look away from her just to get his thoughts back in order. It didn't help the morphine was making Alice ridiculously flirty and that the tightness in his pants was borderline painful.

She had just launched into a very graphic story about the first time she had ever gone skinny dipping when Seto realized he couldn't take any more of her lewd stories while he was trying to stitch her up. He promptly clamped a hand over her mouth, pausing in his attempted suturing of her abdomen only because he felt her tongue teasing his hand. Seto mentally cursed himself for suggesting she take more morphine. Slowly he pulled his hand off her mouth, grimacing as he wiped it off on the edge of Alice's shirt.

"What was that for?" She asked with a pout.

"I had a question to ask you but you wouldn't shut up," Seto lied smoothly as he started stitching again.

"Oh, I love questions," Alice said happily. "What do you wanna know?"

Seto's hand stilled as he thought rapidly. She would probably answer anything right now, but it'd be best to start off easy. "Why do you have so many scars?"

"That's simple, my job." She replied instantly.

"Your job…?" He asked hesitantly, he could see where this was going.

"I'm a Shadow, remember? Geez for a genius you're kinda dumb," she sassed with a wicked twinkle in her eyes.

"And it was Shadows who tried to take Mokuba and hurt you?" He knew it was true, Mokuba had said as much, but he wanted to hear it from her.

"Yes," Alice said sadly, and for the first time in ten minutes she sounded like the morphine wasn't intoxicating her. "I knew the name of every person who attacked us. I guess you could call them my coworkers."

"How did they not recognize you?" Seto asked surprised. He was sure that if they had known it was Alice, Mokuba would have mentioned it.

She rolled her eyes playfully, it seemed that her lucid moment was over. "We have to wear giant black bath robes when we're at the headquarters. They have hoods on them so I always wear mine up."

"Where is this headquarters?"

"The hospital of course," she answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"So that's why you said no hospitals," he muttered, understanding flooded Seto's mind as he continued to suture up her wound.

"Duh," Alice teased, "If you had taken us to the hospital you would have basically been delivering Mokuba over to the Shadows and I'd be toast 'cause the Master would know that I was playing a double agent."

"The Master?" Seto asked, picking up on her bitter tone toward the end.

**"Vesuvius."**Alice seethed and Seto was so shocked by her harsh tone that his hand slipped. Her next words were so normal though that he thought he'd imagined it. "He's the leader of the Shadows and one of only two people who know what I actually look like, the other being his secretary Grace."

"What do the Shadows want?" Seto questioned readily, he was beginning to feel grateful for the morphine.

"Lots of things," she answered vaguely.

When it didn't seem like she was going to elaborate he coaxed her, "Such as?"

Alice looked at him mockingly, "Well first you need to ask another question. 'What_ are _the Shadows, Alice?'" She said mimicking Seto very poorly, "Well Seto, the Shadows are an organization of stalkers. At least, that's the best way I can describe it. Each Shadow has a specific person to follow around, just like a real shadow is attached to a person. We're supposed to wear only shades of black, that's one of Vesuvius's lame rules.

"Anyway, after following around the specific person for so long you start to learn everything about them; age, height, weight, eating habits, favorite hangouts, strengths, weaknesses, and of course from all that, where they keep their valuables. You see, a Shadow is told to follow around one person to find just one thing."

"What thing?" Seto asked gravely, interrupting her strange dialogue.

"Depends on what the Master wants from them. We're basically ridiculously underpaid thieves who take a long time observing our targets. Recently, the Master has been looking for one thing specifically. Which brings us back to your blanket question; what do the Shadows want? And the answer is so simple that I'm surprised that you haven't guessed it; a card."

"A card," Seto scoffed, "You mean a Duel Monster's card. Why the hell doesn't he just kidnap Pegasus and force him to make it for him?"

"He tried that," she said with a wiry smile, "Didn't work so well, especially since there's only one of them and he no longer had anything to base the card off of."

"What?" He asked annoyed.

"I'm getting way ahead of myself; let's just say that he wants a card that has gotten a lot of people hurt or worse, including Maximillion and my parents."

"Your parents?"

"Yep," she said with a shrug of her shoulders, which thankfully didn't affect his suturing. "They got killed because they couldn't help Vesuvius find what he wanted. Well, actually according to the newspapers back then they got killed working."

"Why did it say they were killed working when it was this volcano guy who did them in? What job did they do? Where they Shadows also?" Seto demanded.

"So many questions," Alice said with a lazy yawn. "No, they weren't Shadows, they were archaeologists. There was a cave in at one of the tombs; Vesuvius caused it and left them there to rot. I didn't know this until about a year ago. Being the only daughter of two archaeologists I knew that cave ins were common and so I'd just accepted it."

This conversation was making Seto uncomfortable, though he'd never admit it. So he turned the subject away from the Shadows and death.

"What nationality where your parents?" It wasn't one of his more pressing questions, but he was still curious.

Alice however laughed and he instantly regretted asking. Now her scar was going to have a random part jutting out all because of his stupid question. But he still found Alice's answer interesting.

"My mother was American, but my dad was English, proper English he used to say, which I guess these days means he was British. I was born here in Japan though, I didn't even learn my parent's native tongues until much later in life. I've been to almost every corner of the world; Japan, Egypt, Australia, Europe, Russia, even the eastern coast of the United States." She muttered nonchalantly.

"Eastern coast of the U.S.?" Seto repeated. The information he needed popped into his head and he remembered the report on the TV so long ago. "Alice, I know I gave you that ranking of the top duelists, but did you ever read it? According to that ranking, the new King of Games is some duelist who went missing around the U.S. east coast. But the only way that could be true is if that wannabe beat both Yugi and I in a duel."

By this point in Seto's speech Alice was smiling sweetly, the picture of innocence. Seto narrowed his eyes. "And I don't know about the supposed pharaoh, but the only duel I've had in a while was in a dream, and it was against someone named Aeris, and she looked just like you."

"Who, me?" Alice intoned, batting her eyelashes at him.

Seto scowled but continued to stitch her up, he was nearly finished by now. But he was getting tired of all these questions, so he went straight for the kill. "Are you Red X?"

"I dunno," she responded gleefully. "You tell me. You were at my last duel, and don't even try to deny it. Just because you wear a baseball cap does not make you invisible. I'd know that fine backside anywhere."

Seto raised an eyebrow at the "fine backside" comment, but decided to save his retort for later. "According to the Kaiba Corp. satellites, Red X was the person dueling Renewal, but I saw firsthand that it was you."

"Very good, Seto!" Alice exclaimed, "One mystery solved, well done. Would you like your prize now?" Alice slurred as she licked her lips and started to sit up.

Seto pushed her back down on the bed, "I'm not done with your stitches yet."

She pouted but remained where she was, "Who needs stitches anyway."

"I'm almost finished, and I still have more questions." Seto said impatiently, "So if you're Red X, does that mean you're Aeris too? What's the deal with all the fake names, can't you just stick to one."

Alice just smiled up at him sweetly, her lips pressed together in such a way that it looked like she was trying not to laugh. "Am I Aeris? Well, sort of I suppose."

"How in the name of Obelisk is 'sort of' a proper answer?" Seto asked with a scowl.

"Fine. No, I'm not Aeris. I used her name though. So in answer to your next question, yes I was the person in your dreams who beat the crap out of you in a duel… sort of. Heh, well you dueled Aeris but I took the credit," Alice said with a triumphant smile.

Ignoring her confusing rant he asked another question, "How did you get into my dream? And if you say some Egyptian Millennium mombo jumbo, I'm going gouge my eyes out." Seto threatened darkly, he was sick of all this hockis pokis crap.

Alice seemed to really take his threat to heart, her eyes beginning to water. "Don't hurt your eyes, they're too pretty for that! And I didn't get into your dream, I pulled you out of it with umm… technology?" She lied horribly.

"Whatever." He said bitterly, knowing she had some crap explanation that definitely had to do with Egypt. Ra, did he hate that place. He had just finished her stitches so he placed the equipment back into the suture kit before he looked back to Alice. "Just one more thing, why did you need to get into my dream anyway?"

She began leaning up toward him, the shirt he had given her falling open more and more. "I had to get your attention somehow," Alice said with a calculating smile. "If only I had known how much you liked my body then." She had reached him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling herself onto his lap. "We could have saved ourselves so much trouble," she whispered into his ear with a light giggle.

Seto was spared answering because his door was flung open by Mokuba, who bounded in the room without missing a beat and greeted them.

"Hi, Ali! And Seto, what did I tell you about not molesting our guest?" He said with a giddy smile, not even seeming fazed that Alice was sitting on his brother's lap with her shirt undone.

"Ever heard of knocking, Mokuba." Seto bit back as he shifted Alice on his lap, trying to hide the fact that he was ridiculously turned on from both the goddess on his lap and his younger brother.

"It's alright, Seto." Alice said as she ran a hand down his chest and onto her own thigh patting it, "If Mokie wants to join the fun he's more than welcome."

This however did faze the younger Kaiba. His face turned red and his eyes widened to the size of saucier. "Seto, what did you _do_ to her?" Mokuba accused as he stared at Alice's lustful expression upon looking at his brother.

"It's the morphine," the brunette said with a heavy sigh. "She warned me that it didn't react well with her, but that was an understatement." He began buttoning Alice's shirt back up for her since she obviously wasn't going to do it.

Alice looked down at his hands as he finished fastening the third button, confused. "Does this mean we aren't having sex?"

"Seto!" Mokuba screeched angrily as he watched Alice push Seto's hands away, unbuttoning what he tried to button up.

"Later," Seto promised her, watching the horror wash across his brother's face.

"Ugh! You are such a man whore bro," Mokuba said with a huff. "I came in here for a reason you know."

"And why's that?" Seto asked as he tried to keep Alice from wiggling on his lap.

"I have to talk to Ali, I want to know what happened while I was unconscious and why those thugs left. And I'm not leaving until she tells me," the teen said as he crossed his arms stubbornly.

"That's an easy question, Mokie." She said with a small giggle, "Obviously, it's cause I'm a Duel Monster."

Mokuba shook his head, "You weren't kidding about the morphine thing."

"And the Duel Monster comment did it for you? It wasn't that she's trying to take off all her clothes?" Seto asked snidely as he defused Alice's latest attempt to free herself of clothing.

"Well is there anything I can get to help her?" Mokuba asked with a sigh.

"Yeah, tell one of the maids to get her some food, and she still needs a few of her wounds bandaged. If I try, well, things won't be rated 'T' anymore." Seto announced with a smug smile.

"Didn't need to know that, Seto." Mokuba grumbled as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Since when did I become the responsible one? Anyway, if it gets me out of this insane room I'll do it." He turned to leave but stopped once he was to the door and said over his shoulder with a wink, "Call me when you're sober, Ali."

"What a nice kid," Alice said sweetly as she leaned her head on Seto's shoulder, "Is he ours?"

Seto rolled his eyes. Alice on drugs was difficult, she was like an overexcited drunkard who doesn't know that they're intoxicated.

"Wait right here, one of my maids will bring you some food and finish your bandages," Seto said as he deposited Alice on the bed and began walking toward his closet.

"Where are you going?" she asked, crawling along the bed until she was seated on the edge.

"To take a shower, just wait there." He responded as he grabbed some clean clothes and headed for the bathroom. Alice made to follow him, but he put a hand to her forehead, pushing her back onto the bed.

"Can't I shower with you?" She begged innocently as she played with the covers on his bed.

Sweet Slifer, did he ever wish she could hear what she was asking him. Seto wondered idly if she'd even remember a portion of all that had happened, somehow he doubted it.

"As interesting as that'd be, I just spent the better part of an hour fixing up your injuries so let's not waste the effort. Just sit, someone will bring you food shortly. You are hungry, aren't you?" Seto asked skeptically as he stared at the fidgeting girl. She nodded enthusiastically in response. He felt like he was talking to a child or Mokuba at the least. "Then stay, I don't want you leaving this bed, and don't mess with anything either."

Alice mock saluted him and he scowled in return before heading into the bathroom. Hopefully he didn't come out of the shower and find his home up in flames, or worse.

It was only a few moments before there was a knock at Seto's door. Alice almost jumped up in excitement to answer it, however she remembered what the mean, but very attractive, CEO had told her so she crossed her legs and told them to come in.

The door swung inward and she watched a tall, wispy woman in a mostly black maid outfit saunter in carrying a tray of food, her clover hair brushing her hips as she walked.

"Claves?" Alice exclaimed in surprise. There was something important she was supposed to remember about this woman. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't for the life of her recall what it was though.

"Alice?" Claves gasped, fumbling with the tray in her hands. For once her shock showed on her normally passive face, her feet shuffling for a moment while she processed the information. She then smiled warmly at Alice, her composure recaptured, and continued walking toward the bed where she placed the tray on Seto's nightstand. Alice then remembered a portion of her worries; she still didn't know whose side this woman was really on, now more so then ever.

"So this is the man you like," Claves said conversationally as she grabbed the bandages off the bed and helped Alice out of her shirt. "I told you he wasn't out of your league."

Alice giggled in response as Claves began wrapping the bandage over her right shoulder and around her neck. "Yeah, turns out he likes brunettes after all."

At that Claves cracked a smile, "Lemme guess, morphine?"

"Oh yesshh," Alice said happily as the bandage was being wound around her waist. "But I can't _believe_ you didn't tell me you worked for Seto!"

"Seto." Claves repeated, worry and pity seeping into the word spoken under her breath, revealing what her features could not. "I've been working for Mister Kaiba for about two years now. And to be honest Alice, we only met about a week ago and you never really told me his name," she said with a wink.

"Well you never told me the name of yours either," Alice bantered back as Claves helped her put her shirt back on.

"You wouldn't know him," Claves said with a sad smile. "Now would you like some chicken soup?"

"Don't try to distract me with food," Alice declared offended. "Just tell me his name, please!"

"Absolutely not," Claves argued as she pushed the soup toward Alice. "Now eat."

"Not until I get some details," the brunette said, sticking out her tongue. The soup smelled so good, Alice had to try very hard not to stick her finger in it just to get a taste.

Claves sighed heavily, "Alright, I'll give you one little snidbit of information, but then you have to eat." Alice nodded once curtly so Claves continued in a hushed tone, "He's a coworker of mine."

"It's not Seto is it!?" Alice demanded, her insides churning in a most peculiar way.

Claves snorted, the most unladylike and cliché thing Alice had ever heard her do, "Please, that ice dragon would have to buy me a Ferrari before I even forgave him for half the crap he does," she paused then looked at Alice with pleading eyes, "Please don't tell him I just said that! Besides, Mister Kaiba is my boss, not a co-worker, now eat."

Alice would have argued more, but the chicken soup was calling to her and who was she to ignore talking food? She took a bite of the soup, and it was delicious! Alice began shoveling down the mouthwatering food, pausing only when she occasionally chocked. After a few short minutes Alice had finished all of the food and drank all of the water, Claves took the tray without another word and left the room. Without the distraction of agonizing pain or tempting food, Alice finally got a good look at the room she was in.

This was obviously Seto's bedroom, even her morphine muddled brain could see that. It was a rather large and open room; dark wooden floors, rich mahogany furniture, and polished brass door knobs. There was a lit fire place, a monstrous TV, a minifridge, a bookcase, a large black leather chair, and of course the king sized bed with its blue satin sheets that she was currently sitting on. The windows were long and rectangular, black curtains with blue satin overlays hung over each window and over a door, which she assumed led to a balcony; a balcony that Alice was dying to see.

As quietly as humanly possible, she crept toward the curtain covered door. The smooth texture of the curtains between her fingertips felt so heavenly that Alice took a moment to admire them. She never thought Seto would have a decorative sense, or have windows in general, let alone ones with curtains. She'd expected stainless steel, several shrines to the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and maybe a dart board with Joey's head on it. She didn't expect his room to feel so cozy, so much more welcoming than her own home.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Alice whirled around guiltily, which wasn't a wise idea on her part considering how much blood she had lost. She felt insanely dizzy, but somehow managed to make it back to the bed and sit down.

"I wanted to see your balcony," she whined and then added with a glimmer in her eye and a flirtatious giggle, "But now I'm glad I didn't make it out there cause then I woulda missed this show!"

And what a show it was. Seto still had water dripping from the ends of his hair, even though he had a towel in his hand that was currently rumpling it. He was wearing a pair of black sweatpants with a silver KC emblem on the thigh. Alice wondered idly if everything he owned had the symbol on it… she planned to strip him later and find out. The Egyptian gods were smiling on her because somehow, Seto had failed to put on a shirt. The chiseled pecks, the rock solid abs, and that delicious v-shaped curve that disappeared down into his sweats were all almost too hot for Alice to handle.

"What?" Seto asked with a scowl, he didn't appreciate being stared at… okay that was a lie. But with the way Alice was looking at him, it was almost as if she wanted to devour him, which was more than a little creepy.

She giggled again, "It must be my lucky day. First I see you in regular street clothes and now you're gracing me with this tempting display."

_That's it, I'm through holding back, _Seto thought as he dropped the towel in his hand to the floor and advanced toward her. He moved like a predator, graceful and with a lustful glint in his eyes.

When he reached the bed, Alice picked up a pillow and held it between them. This didn't hinder the ice dragon's advance, if anything it just made him more aggressive. He pressed her down into the bed and grabbed the pillow to toss it away. Then the look on her face stopped him.

She was terrified, so scared in fact that she was shaking. Seto let go of the pillow, sitting back slowly as he watched Alice's hands tremble around it. Alice was scared of him, afraid of his advances.

_Shit_, Seto thought as he ran a hand over his face. "Alice, I'm not going to hurt you," he tried soothingly. But Alice stayed behind the pillow, not even risking a glance at him. He scoffed angrily under his breath, and then sighed in defeat, "I'll show you to the guest room."

At this Alice peaked out from behind the pillow, her eyes wide and confused. "The guest room?"

"You're going to need some sleep. Come on, I'll take you there," Seto grumbled quietly as he held out his hand, palm up, for her to take.

"But, I like your bed," Alice mumbled as she carefully set her hand in his. "Can't I sleep with you?"

Seto stared at her, his eyebrows knitting together. Her mood swings were disorienting, he was having trouble keeping up with them. How was he supposed to respond when the correct response changed so rapidly? Alice's eyes were warm like the flames of the fireplace, but her hand in his was still cold and trembling slightly. _What the hell?_

"Can't I sleep in here?" Alice pleaded shyly. "I don't want to be alone. I don't sleep well like that."

Seto growled in annoyance, unable to say no to Alice when she was this vulnerable and honest. "Fine, get in."

Alice's eyes began to cloud over with fear and uncertainly again. Seto sighed in exasperation, _saying she was loopy on morphine was inaccurate, she's downright bipolar._

"Alice, I promised I wouldn't let you do anything stupid, remember? I've kept my promise so far, haven't I?" _For the most part,_ Seto added mentally. Alice nodded slowly, relaxing her death grip on the pillow slightly.

"If you want to sleep in here you can. I won't touch you, not even once all night. Alright?" Seto asked uncertainly. He wasn't sure this was a promise he could keep, but if it made Alice more compliant it'd be worth it.

Alice released the pillow gingerly, biting her lip as she looked into his cobalt blue eyes, "Why do you always do that?"

"Do what?" He asked, perplexed by yet another one of Alice's mood swings.

"Flirt with me then push me away. As soon as I respond your flirting you behave as if you wished I hadn't." Alice confessed as she knotted her hands in the sheets.

Seto smiled slowly, "Because sometimes I wish you wouldn't respond the way you do. Whenever I catch you before you fall, say something suggestive, or even when I lean over you, you always look at me with those heavy lidded eyes and pouty lips! And Ra, if it doesn't just make me want to grab you."

"You want to grab me?" Alice squeaked, scooting away from him until her back was pressed against the headboard.

"I want to," Seto growled running a hand through his still damp hair, "But I don't. It takes everything I have to stop and let you go."

"But why do you stop?" Alice whispered earnestly, leaning ever so slightly toward him.

Seto looked at her, really looked. He looked at the way her hair flowed in loose golden brown ringlets down to her waist; he looked at how the blue shirt she wore complemented her porcelain complexion; he looked at how her eyes shimmered with a bright, almost feverish, light; he looked at the way her lips curved ever so slightly into an unconscious pout. She probably wouldn't remember his answer, so what was the harm in telling her.

"The reason I stop," Seto began as he ran his fingers through her soft hair. He paused slightly when Alice sighed contently and leaned into his hand. He swallowed hard, moving his hand to tilt her chin up until their eyes met before he continued. "I'm still trying to convince myself that I don't feel anything for you, that this is all just hormones and testosterone…"

"And is it working?" Alice asked with a small yawn.

Seto just smiled at her, "We should probably get some sleep."

Alice nodded and slid under the satin sheets, snuggling into the bed while Seto got up to shut off the lights and then walked around to the other side. He laid down flat on his back, the sheets barely reaching halfway up his exposed torso. Feeling the bed shift, Seto's eyes flickered to Alice, who was now facing him with hardly an inch between them.

"So, you won't touch me, no matter what?" She verified innocently was her fingers slid across the satin toward him.

"That is what I said Porter," he replied warily as he watched her fingers hesitate right before reaching him.

"Just making sure," she said slyly as she slipped her arm across his bare chest and pressed herself against his side. Seto inhaled sharply as her bare skin came into contact with his, her fingers like ice. He shuddered from the instant chill her touch gave him, followed by the surprising warmth she evoked from the areas she touched. Alice draped a leg over his, rubbing his calve with her own.

"You aren't playing fair," he said with a dark chuckle. She was very tempting, that was undeniable, but he wasn't going to let her know just how tempting she was. He figured he should enjoy the moment while it lasted. His restraint was legendary, and not even this fiery goddess could evoke a response from him if he didn't want her to.

"I never said I played fair," she said breathlessly as she ran her hands up his bare chest. When he didn't respond in any visible way, Alice giggled softly and gently teased his neck with her tongue. Besides inhaling slowly, he didn't react in the slightest. He could tell that Alice was getting annoyed by the little sounds of disapproval she made as she messaged his chest and biceps. It was almost too easy to remain still and fake indifference, he'd been doing it for so long now it was almost second nature; that is, until she grazed his earlobe with her teeth ever so lightly, blowing warm air across his skin.

Seto fisted his hands in the sheets, his teeth clenched together in an attempt to keep any vocal responses silent. Alice must have noticed his sudden distress, because she pulled back ever so slightly, placing her chin on his chest as she looked at him with a triumphant smirk.

"How's it feel to be the one being teased, Kai-ba?" She asked as she tilted her head to the side.

"I seem to recall you being better at this when we were in the library," Seto mocked as he let go of his steely grip on the sheets.

Alice gasped and slapped his chest playfully, "Are you implying that I've lost my touch?"

"No," he said with a lazy grin, "I'm telling you that you never had one, doll."

Her mouth opened then closed without a sound being uttered, obviously flabbergasted.

"Darling, the openmouthed fish look doesn't work for you," Seto informed her snidely as he put his hands behind his head, feigning a picture of ease. Baiting her while she was this unpredictable probably wasn't a wise decision, but it sure as hell was a fun one.

"So you're saying I'm not sexy?" Alice demanded as she sat up next to him, glaring daggers at him with her emerald eyes.

Seto shrugged, hands still behind his head, "That is one way to put it."

Suddenly, he found himself being straddled by said "unsexy" girl. He didn't know when she had made the movement, or how she had managed it so fast, but she was currently sitting on top of him, smiling like a mad woman. He couldn't hide the shock on his face as she leaned over him; her hair falling over her shoulder as she splayed her hands across the pillow on either side of his head. Bringing her mouth within inches of his, she spoke in a sultry voice.

"Since I'm so unsexy, that must mean this has no affect on you, right Mister Kaiba?" Her lips grazing his as she spoke.

"That… would be the inevitable conclusion," Seto managed to choke out. For some reason unknown to him, hearing her call him "Mister Kaiba" was hotter than it should be.

"Hmmm," Alice hummed softly as she pulled back a little, licking her lips as she stared down at her prey. "Are you quite sure I'm not affecting you," she purred, racking her fingers lower and lower down his chest.

Seto merely grunted in response, not trusting his voice as he re-fisted his hands in the pillow below his head.

Alice placed her hands on his pecks and mewled softly, "That's not what your body's telling me."

Seto blinked at her in confusion, but it all clicked into place as she bit her lip seductively and ground her pelvis into his.

"Shit!" Seto groaned as his head slammed further into headboard and his hands clenching the pillow so tightly it was almost painful.

"I'm sorry Mister Kaiba, I don't think I heard that." Alice purred softly as she rubbed herself against the bulge in his sweatpants again.

"Sweet Slifer, I take it back!" Seto snarled as he set up sharply, his hands braced behind him.

Alice grinned widely as Seto's eyes greedily raked up her legs to her hips, where the blue shirt was bunched around her waist. He badly wanted to run his hands up her smooth and creamy thighs, to grab her hips and show her how much she really affected him._ Damn promises._

"So you do think I'm sexy!" She verified with a girlish giggle.

"Fine. Yes, you're moderately sexy." Seto growled at her.

"Moderately?" Alice mocked as she leaned forward, pressing her chest against his and squirming on his lap, "If this is moderately I can't wait to see extremely."

"Would you stop doing that?" He demanded angrily as he began to put his hands on her waist to still her movement.

"I don't think so Mister Kaiba," Alice teased as she took his hands and guided them back to his sides gently. "You said you wouldn't touch me tonight."

Seto slammed his head back into his pillow, frustrated. _Promises be damned! She's cheating,_ he thought lividly. But though he thought this he made no move to stop her.

"When morning comes I'm going to pay you back for this." He grated out.

"Deal." She said sweetly, not really understanding what she was agreeing to. "It's alright, Seto, I'll behave now too." She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek before rolling off of him.

"And why's that?" Seto demanded, missing the feeling of her body pressed against his, though he refused to admit it.

"I just wanted to make sure you would keep your promise, and you did," she sighed happily as she nuzzled her lithe form into his side.

"Minx," he accused with a small smile as he stroked her back, happy when she didn't reprimand him for touching her.

"Could I have some more morphine?" She begged.

"I don't think so," Seto said immediately.

"Please, it'll help me sleep!"

He thought about it for a moment, and then got up and retrieved the last morphine syringe from the floor where all of the supplies had ended up. And she was right, after taking the morphine she was out like a light.

Seto laid in the bed, staring at Alice's sleeping figure for Exodia only knows how long. It was difficult to resist the urge to unbutton her shirt a little more, or to stroke her exposed legs, but somehow he managed. It became even harder to resist such actions when she rolled over in his arms, pressing her butt against his groin. He exhaled a shaky breath and told himself that if he started grinding against Alice, she'd probably rip up all three of his Blue-Eyes cards, and it helped… a little.

Eventually Alice's soft sighs and muttered words in her sleep had Seto growing tired too. He fell asleep with the brunette minx cradled in his arms.

_~~~DFAD~~~_

Alice woke up with her head on the world's softest pillow, and a space heater pressed against her back. _Sure, the pillow is Seto's arm and yes, he is half naked, but you can't have everything right,_ she thought with a small smirk. She shifted slightly to get more comfortable, hoping that there was more sleep ahead of her. That's when she really noticed what was behind her.

Blushing profusely, Alice attempted to shift away from the very turned on CEO. She'd always thought that the rumors about men and the morning were untrue, now she had firsthand experience that said otherwise. She blushed again, and wiggled a little farther away from Seto.

Either missing the feeling of her body against his or feeling the movement from the bed, Seto woke up groggily.

"What the hell are you squirming around for?" He grumbled, his voice rough and his hair rumpled in disarray.

"I'm sorry," she squeaked as Seto's right arm wound around her waist and pulled her back into him. She tried to ignore the feeling of him plastered against her backside, but it wasn't something that one could just ignore.

"Go back to sleep," Seto demanded grouchily, tightening his hold on her and unknowingly making her melt.

"Aren't you suppose to be a morning person," she teased as she laid her head back on his arm.

"Go to Egypt." He bristled, apparently not liking her joke.

"Egypt? Why Egypt?" She asked, clearly confused.

"Because that's where I think hell is," Seto said dryly. "Now shut up and let me sleep. You took all the energy away from me last night with your damn morphine induced antics. I have every right not to be a morning person."

"But, don't you have to go to work?" Alice asked, ignoring his demand that she be silent.

When he didn't respond right away Alice turned in his arms to see that he was looking at her like she was an idiot. "I promised to spend the day with Mokuba," he confessed, then added with a sarcastic smirk, "Besides, what kind of brother would I be if I went to work the day after someone attempted to kidnap my brother?"

"Seto Kaiba." Alice said in answer to his question, she received a scowl in response which she probably deserved. Shifting out of his arms, she began to roll out of bed.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He asked as he propped himself up on his left arm.

Alice took a moment to admire the image of Seto shirtless, with messy hair, and lying in bed before she responded. "You said you were spending the day with Mokuba, so I thought I'd go ahead and make my way home. I'll see you Monday though," she said with a tight smile.

"Oh no, Porter." Seto said with a devilish smile, "You're not going anywhere until this Shadow business is resolved."

"You can't hold me hostage, Kaiba." Alice said stubbornly, only the slight tremor in her voice revealing her uncertainty.

He just smirked at her as he set up in bed and fixed his hair, not even acknowledging her argument.

"But, but I'll need clothes!" Alice sputtered, trying to find some loophole to escape through.

"We'll pick them up later. Until further notice you're living here," he said smugly.

"This is ridiculous!" Alice fumed, tugging at the bottom of the dress shirt she was wearing that she just realized didn't cover as much skin as she thought. She looked up from her fretting over the shirt to see Kaiba glaring at her.

Alright, so it was a decent idea. Since Sofia and Amy were no longer living at her home, she didn't really feel any need to go back. It was downright lonely there. Plus since she was now being Shadowed by Claves, it made more sense to keep everyone within her radar. If she was living at the Kaiba Mansion she could keep an eye on both Seto and Mokuba… _MOKUBA KAIBA! Gah, I am never going to get used to that._

"Fine," Alice conceded, "I'll live in your bloody house until this mess is over." When Seto's only response was to smile at her suggestively, Alice suddenly became very self-conscious. "What is it?"

"It's morning, Alice." He said with a malevolent smile and eyes dark with lust. He got off the bed and stalked toward her, "I believe it's time for some payback."

Alice bolted for the bathroom, locking the door behind her and leaning against it as she tried to sort out the mess she was in. She could hear the devilish CEO's laughter through the wooden door, and she prayed that it was dragon proof. _Why do these things always happen to me?_

[_A/N: So on a scale of 1 to Seto, how was that? Seto being the best of course ;) Review and let me know!_]


	20. Roses

[_A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Y'all seriously lifted my spirits! And to everyone who's reading but not reviewing, I appreciate your time too ;) You guys are the best!_]

***Disclaimer*** (This product is meant for educational purposes only. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. Ownership of "Yu-Gi-Oh!" or any of its flamboyant characters depicted is not implied. Some assembly required. Batteries not included. Use only as directed. No other warranty expressed or implied.)

**Chapter 20 – Roses**

"You can't stay in there forever," Seto informed the closed door with a smug smile.

"I know that…"

His smug smile twisted into that smirk he was famous for as he leaned his hand against the door frame. "Then come out and accept your punishment."

The lock on the door clicked softly and it opened slightly, causing a small amount of light to filter into the dark bedroom. Seto's eyes narrowed when the door remained only fractionally open and there were no signs of movement.

"You're just delaying the inevitable," he gloated, flexing his hand against the wood panel.

Shock filled his icy veins when the door swung fully open and Alice launched herself at him. They hit the floor in a tangled mess and Seto fought the instinct to shove her off him. When she made no attempt to run or fight, but instead laid prone against his chest, Seto propped himself up on his elbows and eyed the deranged brunette.

"That was the worst escape plan I've ever seen," he mocked, his voice cracking inaudibly when Alice's cold hands twitched against his stomach. He tried to ignore how soft her body felt pressed against his. He tried to deny how much he liked that she smelled faintly of his soap. He tried to imagine that her small and delicate hands weren't doing sinful things to his control. He tried, oh did he try, but he failed all the same.

"I wasn't escaping," Seto heard her mumble into his chest; her lips brushing against his skin as she spoke. He shuddered involuntarily, his arms going slack, causing him to sink back into the floor.

Alice lifted her head off his chest, her hair tickling his bare skin as she propped herself up above him. The blue shirt hung loose on her slim frame as she hovered over him, her hands ghosting up and down his abdomen in a broken rhythm. Her eyes were soft, glistening emerald orbs, burning into his glacier blues.

"I'm surrendering," she said softly as she looked down at him, her eyelashes casting long shadows on her flushed cheeks.

"Alice," he warned gruffly as she continued to trail her hands along his toned torso.

She brought them up to his neck, until she was caressing his cheek with her palm. Seto responded in kind, placing his hands on her hips and dragging her in closer. These were the moments when the Shadow and the Dragon finally found their harmony. They could see the truth through the lies, for all was revealed in the irises of the other. No amount of teasing or insults could ruin a moment such as this. Distractions were meaningless because the entire world just seemed to melt away as their lips finally connected in these sweet moments of passion; unless of course, that distraction was Mokuba.

The door to the bedroom burst open and a very happy raven haired teen bounded into the room. He began gushing instantly about how much fun the three of them were going to have and all the things he was going to show Alice. Seto scowled at his brother, but stood to his feet, bringing the blushing girl with him.

"I've heard of foreplay, but you guys take it to the extreme! Seriously, get a room," Mokuba teased as he flopped down on his brother's still unmade bed.

"We had one," Seto seethed, crossing his well muscled arms over his chest. "But it seems it's been invaded by a rather large pest problem."

"Ouch." Mokuba and Alice said together.

"I think he just called me fat!" Mokuba declared, sniffing in false hurt.

"That wasn't very nice," Alice added.

Seto merely shrugged in response, uncaring. "We should really get this torturous day started, I have better things I could be doing.

Alice had the urge to reach out and smack the arrogant CEO; one moment he's sweet and warm and the next he's back to his pigheaded self. "You know you don't have to spend the day with us."

"Oh, but he does." Mokuba said enthusiastically, flashing a mischievous grin in his brother's direction.

The green eyed girl observed the silent argument between the Kaiba brothers. It seemed that, at the moment at least, the raven haired boy held something over the usually passive brunette. While the exchange was entertaining to say the least, Alice was getting rather tired of being excluded, so she interrupted their staring contest.

"So! When do I get the chance to go home and put some pants on?" She asked jokingly.

Mokuba was first to break the standoff, "Why do you need to change? You look so nice in blue, right Seto? I mean it's not as good as that silk robe, but it's a close second," he added with a wink.

"The robe was a bit classier," Seto commented with a wicked shine to his eyes, "But I think I like this better."

Alice eyed the blue button up shirt she wore and then the smirking brothers. _First they're arguing with each other, then they gang up on me! How humiliating,_ she thought as she turned quickly and flounced out of the room, color high in her cheeks. Even if she had to walk home, she was determined to get away from them, and grab some pants while she was at it.

"Come on Ali, we were only messing with you!" Mokuba yelled after her, "Not that you don't look good in them, because you do, but… oh man. Seto, little help?"

Even with the long hallway of the mansion separating them, Alice could still hear Seto's dry chuckle in response, "You're on your own kid."

Mokuba finally managed to catch up with Alice and gave her a sheepish smile, "How about I make you some coffee? That always makes Seto forgive me faster, that or crying. Do I have to cry?"

"I'm not Seto," Alice pouted, stopping her aimless wandering because she had no idea where she was at this point. "Coffee won't work on me. And crying won't work either, not this time."

The younger Kaiba looked at the fuming brunette, her arms crossed tightly over her chest, and smiled warmly, "How about hot chocolate? Everyone loves hot chocolate… unless you're soulless, like Seto."

Mokuba was rewarded with a small, but amused smile. "Fine, hot chocolate then, but there had better be marshmallows."

"I aim to please," he said with a goofy smile, grabbing her arm and leading the way.

While Mokuba showed Alice to the kitchen for some sugary goodness, Seto changed in his room for the day. When he was dressed he made his way down to the kitchen where a cup of black coffee was waiting for him. He received an extra ego stroking when Alice openly gaped at him when he entered the room. The new black trench coat he wore was more subtle than his white one, but still flashier than other jackets.

"Looks good, bro. I told you it was a good pick," Mokuba said cheerfully as he handed his brother the bitter drink.

Seto responded with a characteristic grunt and downed the coffee in one go. He hadn't been lying when he'd said he hadn't gotten much sleep. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Alice eying his coffee curiously.

She shook her head briefly, "So are we headed to my house?"

"So impatient," Mokuba teased as he put their mugs in the sink.

"You're one to talk," Alice huffed as she followed the two brothers out of the mansion and into the waiting limo.

Mokuba had been right, Domino Park was almost literally halfway between their houses. When they passed the field where the Shadows had ambushed them, Alice averted her gaze. She found herself staring into Mokuba's amethyst eyes, full of as much terror as hers surely possessed.

"I never asked," Alice said quietly, hesitant to break the silence, "How are you feeling today?"

"A little sore," he admitted with a sad smile. "Jasper said I would be, because of all the bruising on my arms, swollen ankle, and my two broken ribs."

"Jasper?" Alice squeaked, her eyes absurdly wide.

Mokuba nodded his head but it was Seto who answered, "He's our personal physician. You would know that if you had let him treat you."

"I see…" She muttered almost silently, her face twisting into a grimace.

Seto's eyes narrowed as he watched the brunette's expression flit between an array of emotions; shock, understanding, anger, disgust, and lastly settling on fear.

"You alright, Ali?" Mokuba asked softly, also noticing Alice's fearful expression.

"I'm peachy," she croaked, her voice betraying her. Mokuba was about to protest when Seto spoke up.

"We're here."

The three teens piled out of the limo and headed for Alice's house with Mokuba in the lead. Before they could reach the door, Alice pulled Seto to a stop forcefully, her nails surprising sharp even through his jacket.

Her eyes blazed into his, her voice fierce as she stated in a subdued voice, "Do not let Jasper near him anymore."

Seto didn't even hesitate, "Agreed." He stared at her a moment longer, letting her see that he truly did understand what she was too afraid to say.

"Alice!" Mokuba called from ahead of them, standing in the open doorway.

"Yes?" She responded quickly, releasing her hold on Seto and breaking the connection between them.

"You really shouldn't leave your front door unlocked," he said with a friendly smile.

"… oh, how silly of me." Alice responded calmly. Only Seto heard the way her voice cracked when she said this, only he noticed the force behind the calm. Something was very wrong.

As they stepped into the dark house Seto pulled his adventurous brother to his side, allowing Alice to pass them and flick on the lights. Everything appeared normal. No furniture was turned over, no writing on the walls, and nothing appeared to be missing at first glance.

Mokuba stared at his brother curiously, "I could have done that, Seto."

"I didn't want you breaking anything on the way to try," Seto lied smoothly. "I'm going to go make some coffee," he added with a glance in Alice's direction.

"But you already had coffee," his brother protested with a roll of his eyes.

"I need more. You wait on the couch, don't move." He commanded as he marched out of the room.

"So pushy," Mokuba muttered, wrinkling his nose. "I don't know how you stand him, Ali."

"You have to deal with him more than I do, I just have him on school days," Alice responded, trying to keep her voice light and her stance casual. She felt a shiver run down her spine, but forced her eyes to stay focused on the boy.

"Heh, yeah. But I bet he's doing everything in his power to make sure it's not just the weekdays," Mokuba said with a playful wink as he lounged back on the couch.

Despite the tense atmosphere, the raven haired boy seemed oblivious, and for that Alice was grateful. She gave him a light giggle as a reply, hoping it sounded genuine. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Seto walk past one of the hallway doors. She prayed that he didn't find anything in his search.

_**"Do you require my assistance?"**_ Aeris questioned tonelessly.

_Yes, please. Is there anyone here? Can you tell if they are upstairs? _Alice thought desperately, her forehead creased with worry.

Aeris appeared in front of her then, her wings outstretched and her body glowing slightly. Alice had to stifle a scream. Her eyes flashed to Mokuba, who still lay on the couch as if nothing was wrong, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Yes, Alice had seen her once before… but giant white wings, blue electricity, and well Aeris in general, weren't things that you could just get used to.

_You could have warned me,_ Alice thought bitterly as she tried hard not to openly gawk at her counterpart.

_**"My apologies."**_Aeris said with an unapologetic half smile.

The Egyptian woman became like vapor, disappearing on the spot. Weakness flooded through Alice, her head feeling weightless and her knees trembling slightly. She looked around puzzled, not quite sure why the woman had suddenly decided to leave. She waited quietly for a moment, hoping that Aeris would return and the lightness of her head would vanish. However her impatience got the better of her.

_Aeris?_ She called out mentally, but there was no response. Alice worried her lower lip, honest to Oblisk fear taking hold of her throat. _Why did she leave me?_ She thought in a panic. She searched her mind for the small thread that connected them and found it after a moment, pleased for the first time that the strange woman was not gone from her mind. But if she wasn't gone, why wasn't she answering.

"Your coffee selection sucks," Seto grunted as he reentered the room, hands in his pockets. Translation, there's no one hiding downstairs.

Alice let out a relieved sigh, happy that part of the problem was resolved, "That's good."

Mokuba sat up on the couch, looking at the brunette with a perplexed expression, "Why is that good?"

Eyes widening at her mistake, Alice looked to Seto for help, but he simply gave her a sly smile in return. "Yes Alice, why is that good?"

She felt like screaming at him. He should be helping her hide the break in from Mokuba, not teasing her for a small slip up. The weakness of her body and mind were making it difficult to think properly. "Because… that means… well, if you didn't like my coffee, then there's more for me?"

Seto shook his head at her lame excuse, an amused smile threatening to break across his face. Mokuba simply laughed heartily, finding Alice's reason funny for whatever reason.

"I'm going to go get dressed now," she declared as she left the room on still shaky legs, cheeks slightly pink.

"We'll wait here," Seto called after her.

"Ahh, you're no fun," she heard Mokuba complain as he flopped back down on the couch after making to follow her.

Alice reached the stairs and was about to climb them when another wave of weaknesses passed over her. She braced herself against the banister, taking in shallow breaths.

_**"I apologize again. I had forgotten that you are in no fit state to use my abilities."**_

Alice looked up quickly, which was a bad idea and just increased her weightless feeling, to see Aeris standing at the top of the stairs.

_**"The energy required from you is tremendous for even a feat such as this,"**_Aeris continued with a blank expression. _**"However, rest assured that the people who invaded your home have left."**_

_Thank you,_ Alice thought with a sense of relief as she began to climb the stairs. Some of her strength had returned to her, and the trembling in her legs had stopped altogether. When she reached the top and began to walk to her room, Aeris fell into step beside her. The noiseless movement of the Egyptian woman was comforting to the shaken brunette in a way she would have never imagined.

_Where did you go when you disappeared? _Alice asked as she entered her room.

_**"****To search the house, as you requested."**_ Aeris informed her dryly. _**"I found no one."**_

_I'm glad,_ Alice thought as she began to pack her bag_. __I didn't think Claves would invade my house this soon._

_**"However,"**_ Aeris continued with an exaggerated sigh of annoyance, _**"You may wish to know that it was the Renewal sisters, and not your Shadow Claves, who infiltrated your home."**_

"Really?" Alice questioned aloud as she grabbed a few school uniforms as well as aseveral different kinds of pajamas and some jeans. She slipped out of Seto's shirt and put on a matching set of black lingerie; there would be no repeats of last night. Alice redid her bandages, pleased to see that none of her wounds had reopened. She hesitated with Seto's shirt for a moment before she gingerly placed it in the bag.

_**"****Truly,"**_ Aeris responded with a sly smile before she disappeared again, this time without taking any energy with her.

Pulling on a pair of black skinny jeans, an oversized red and white striped sweater, and a pair of warm, white snow boots, Alice began to head for the door. Halfway there she remembered something and rushed to her closet to retrieve it. Stuffing the offending cloak into her bag along with her white outfit, she hurried down the stairs, pleased to see that the Kaiba brothers were where she left them.

"Ali!" Mokuba exclaimed happily as soon as he caught sight of the brunette. Sometimes Mokuba reminded her of a puppy; unbearably cute, breathtakingly loyal, and always happy to see you even if you'd only been gone a moment.

"Hey, Mokie," she giggled, trying to dispel the image of him with ears and a wagging tail from her mind. "Sorry for keeping you waiting," she directed at Seto.

He merely grunted in response, eyes averted.

Alice checked quickly to make sure she was wearing a shirt, and when she found her modesty was intact, the brunette shook her head at the CEO's sudden disinterest.

"Did you know your painting is crooked?" Mokuba asked conversationally as he made a beeline for the fireplace and the picture about it. His hand was already outstretched before Alice processed what he was doing.

"No!" She exclaimed, dropping her bag and jumping over the chair to grab the teen and pull him away from the painting. Delicately, Alice reached up and straightened the portrait of herself. When she was satisfied she turned back to face the boys with a triumphant grin.

"What was that?" Seto asked with a cognizing grin. Mokuba shook his head in agreement, though his mouth formed a perplexed smile as he looked at the strange girl.

Alice looked between the two teenage brothers and their distinctly opposite reactions to her. She always enjoyed comparing the behavior of siblings, and the Kaiba brothers were one of the strangest combos she'd ever come across.

"It's an expensive painting!" She defended with a little pout then continued teasingly, "Would you want me messing with the Blues Eyes statue in your backyard?"

"How's she know about Frank!?" Mokuba shrieked, glaring at his older brother in an accusatory fashion.

"She doesn't, it was just a very lucky guess." Seto scoffed.

"Right, I knew that," Mokuba said as an adorable pink blush colored his cheeks. "Anyway, let's head back to the limo so we can start our day of fun sooner!"

"Joy." Seto muttered sarcastically as the raven haired boy ushered him toward the door. He turned his head to look at Alice, surprised she hadn't made a jeer about the statue yet, and found her staring at her coffee table with a strange expression; it was somewhere between grief and anger, with just a dash of terror. He ignored the twisting in his gut and called out, "Let's go Alice, Mokuba is only going to get more impatient."

She looked up at him, that same twisted expression distorting her features. Normally she was so good at schooling her expression, why was she letting this show? Before he could think further on it, Alice's face became a blank mask, a wall shrouding her emotions; only her eyes maintained a ghost of their tormented gaze.

"Right, sorry!" She said, her voice just shy of sounding truly cheerful. She grabbed her bag hastily and followed them out of her house, locking the door behind her.

It was a very quiet ride back to the Kaiba Mansion. Not a word was spoken, and though normally it would have bothered Alice, she was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she didn't notice. The only occupant of the black limo who seemed upset by the silence was Mokuba, and he let both Alice and Seto know this when they stepped out of the vehicle.

"Alright, I can't stand it anymore! This is supposed to be our day of fun, but instead Alice is sulking and Seto is brooding." Mokuba said dejectedly, his lower lip jutting out.

"I am not sulking." Alice defended.

"And you're pouting," Seto added with a smirk. "What's your point?"

Mokuba scowled at his brother and then threatened with a sickly happy smirk of his own, "My point is that we need to do something fun right now before I break off our deal."

There was a silent standoff then in the foyer between the brothers, the tension in the air could be cut with a knife. Alice was getting so used to them however, that she hardly noticed.

"I do still have work to do. I have results that need analysis," Seto said in a measured tone. "Just because you want to party like a harpie lady, does not mean I stop being Kaiba Corp. CEO."

"I understand that, Seto." Mokuba said through clenched teeth with forced cheer, "But what you need to understand is that this time you don't have the best hand. I have all the cards, big brother. And I. Will. Use. Them."

"…"

"Is all you two talk about cards? Seriously, doesn't that get tiresome?" Alice asked with a bored frown, obviously not understanding that the conversation was a metaphor.

Both boys quickly forgot their argument and flashed matching condescending and incredulous looks in Alice's direction, causing the brunette's face to flush with color.

"What's more entertaining and interesting than Duel Monsters?" Mokuba demanded.

"There's nothing else worth discussing." Seto stated in agreement.

Alice scoffed darkly at them under her breath, "Duelists."

"So, I think we should show Ali, Frank. After all, she already knows about him," Mokuba said happily, back to his carefree attitude.

Seto sighed deeply, "I suppose it's a start."

Alice smiled slightly, trying to put out of her mind what she had seen at her house, "Sounds wonderful, I'll just go put my bag down and–"

"I can take that for you, Alice." A friendly voice interrupted. The brunette turned to face it and was surprised, and also unsurprised, to find that it belonged to Claves.

"Oh! Thank you, Claves. That's kind of you," Alice said with a timid smile as she handed over her bag. She was still terribly confused about how to act around the Shadow, but for the time being she would at least be civil.

"Just doing my job," Claves replied with a kind smile.

"Claves?" Seto questioned with an eyebrow raised.

"Alice?" Mokuba asked with a similar reaction.

The brunette girl looked between everyone with a lost expression, but thankfully Claves made the connection and supplied an explanation.

"I'm sorry Mister Kaiba, I should not have addressed her so familiarly while she's here. I did not mean to offend you or Mister Mokuba," Claves said humbly, bowing low to the Kaiba brothers.

"No, it's fine. Just surprising," Seto said, hiding his shock by adding with a conniving smile, "You can address her anyway you want, I might even have a few suggestions. Like babe, she gets so bothered when Devlin calls her that. Or perhaps doll, which causes her face to take on the hue of a tomato, though maybe that's just because I'm the one calling her that," he added with a smug grin.

"Seto!?" Alice squealed as true to form, her cheeks inflamed. Mokuba laughed heartily next to her and even Claves gave a short chuckle of amusement.

"As you wish Mister Kaiba, is there anything else?" Claves asked earnestly.

Seto thought about it for a moment then motioned for her to come closer; he then proceeded to whisper something in her ear which made Claves, the girl of stone, smile devilishly.

"Right away, sir!" She bowed quickly before hurrying out of the room, but not before winking at a very confounded Alice.

"What was that?" She asked with a nervous giggle.

"Just taking care of some business," Seto said evasively, a mischievous shine to his eyes that reminded her startlingly of Mokuba. "Didn't you say something about wanting to see the Blue Eyes statue in our backyard?"

Alice narrowed her eyes at him, her nose scrunched in annoyance, but she nodded her head in agreement.

"Good," Seto said with a slow smile, "Lead the way, Mokuba."

"You got it, bro!" The raven haired boy responded with vigor.

As Mokuba led the way through the house, Alice tried to pay attention to all the different rooms she saw and all the corridors she was led through, but after the seventh one she was hopelessly turned around. She gave up with an audible sigh and found herself observing her companions instead of the house.

Mokuba was as chipper as ever, Alice was sure that not even a shortage of hot chocolate could ruin his mood. She didn't know whether it was her presence in the house or Seto's agreement to accompany them that had the boy in such high spirits. His face was happy, and his laugh carefree, it made her glad she had agreed to stay. Whatever the real reason, Alice was glad that yesterday's events had not darkened his mood.

Seto… Seto was beaming! It was driving Alice mad that the reason behind it was obviously what he had told Claves. Why couldn't she be let in on the secret? Where was the justice in the world? His posture was a little laxer than normal, his face less lined. The angry demeanor that normally dominated his features was nowhere to be found, vanished without a trace. All of these subtle changes, and she was forbidden to know the reason behind them. His lips weren't scowling or sneering, but set in a way that hinted at contempt. A gentle breeze was blowing cold air against his cheeks, causing the slightest flush and mussing his hair. The way his eyes were dancing in the sunlight made Alice's knees feel weak and her heart pound painfully in her chest. Wind and sunlight; when had they gotten outside?

Alice was sure she was drooling by the time she realized Seto was staring back at her. And as fate would have it at that moment Alice's foot hit a spot of black ice and she lost her footing. Seto reached out to catch her before she could make contact with the ground; instinct taking over as he caught her around the waist and lifted her back up so she was standing.

"You alright?" He asked with an amused smile as he started walking again, arm still around her waist.

"I'm f-ffine," she stuttered, her voice far more breathy than she intended.

Seto chuckled in response, pulling her along with him as they followed Mokuba. He was still holding onto her, pressing her against his side with a gentle force that was uncharacteristic of him. And he was smiling, genuinely smiling! Every time he'd glance down at her he'd start quietly laughing.

"What?" Alice demanded, trying to convince herself she wasn't flushed. "What is it?"

"You know, I used to think that you would fall on purpose, that you were tripping around just so that I'd be forced to touch you. It irritated me to no ends that no matter what was going on, or how much I hated you at the time, I'd still catch you. It made me find you that much more annoying," he said with a sly smile. Though his words were hardly kind, Alice could feel her heart hammering away in her chest; because he was for perhaps the first time she could recall, being entirely honest with her.

"True, I'd rectify my moment of chivalry as soon as possible," he continued with a thoughtful expression, "But the damage was already done. I could almost see the gears turning in your brunette head, piecing together what I'd never say out loud but was always thinking."

"And what is it," Alice whispered shyly despite herself. "What can't you say out loud?"

He stopped slowly, bringing Alice in front of him and placing his hands on her shoulders. She immediately looked to the ground, embarrassed beyond all reason that she had actually asked such a thing. Seto tilted her chin up until their eyes connected, sapphire to emerald, and she saw that he was going to be honest again. Entirely and completely honest.

Alice's heart was drumming in her chest faster than what she was sure was a healthy pace, her pulse was through the roof, and she was sure that her face was redder than Slifer; and yet Seto was still looking at her with that honest gaze and content smile. _He's gunna confess! Oh my Ra! He's actually going to confess! _Alice thought as a wave of dizziness began to pass over her. Seto's smile twitched ever so slightly and he uttered the words that made her heart stop in her chest.

"You're a klutz. An honest to Oblisk klutz! You can't walk up stairs, through doorways, across ice, or even on level ground without falling all over the place," he accused with a devilish grin.

Alice stared at him, her mouth gaping open slightly and her heart returning to its usual pace in her chest.

"What?" Seto asked, trademark smirk flashing across his face, "Did you think I was going to say something else?"

"You, I!" Alice sputtered, her face turning redder than before, "How in the name of sanity is that something you couldn't say out loud!?"

Seto chuckled darkly, "Because I was sure if I had you'd have hit me or tried to destroy my computer, but out here there's really nothing you can do," he finished smugly as he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked away from her.

Mokuba was already at the Blue Eyes statue, Seto was just feet away from him, and Alice was still standing in between the rows of bushes and snow covered plants. It was a moment of sheer instinct on her part, and before she knew what was happening she was watching a white ball of snow sail through the air towards the CEO.

Seto cringed as he felt the icy material hit the back of his head, snow flecking his hair and cold water trickling down his back. He looked up to his brother and saw the younger boy's shocked expression, followed by a fearful glance that he cast past Seto's shoulder toward the brunette vixen. Seto was sure his face was twisted into a terrifying scowl by the way his brother's face contorted in fear, so he turned around slowly to level his malicious gaze on Alice.

Thwack! Another snow ball hit him square in the chest before he could even process the flight of the object. He glared down at the powdered snow that was slowly soaking into his new black trench coat. _She's got decent aim,_ he thought absently as he raised his angry eyes to the perpetrator feet in front of him, still glaring mercilessly.

She was holding a compact snowball in one hand, the other dripped with telltale signs of her previous throw. His angry glare was reflected back at him, her face a mask of triumph and rage. He realized that Mokuba's fearful expression hadn't been because of his anger, but because of hers. Alice was cradling the last snowball against her chest, right over her heart.

"Care to repeat that?" Alice asked smugly, cocking her hip to the side.

"You," Seto began with an expression halfway between annoyance and amusement.

"Yep, me. So how about saying all of that stuff now, pretty boy." She challenged. And of course being Seto Kaiba, he couldn't back down from a challenge.

"Pretty boy?" He clarified, eyebrows raised. "Well I am unbearably handsome and chiseled like a god, but pretty? Maybe you should get your eyes checked; all those falls seem to have impacted your vision. As for repeating myself, maybe you should get your ears checked too. I said you were a klutz, as if I would say anything else."

He watched as the snowball slipped from her fingers and hit the ground, blending in with the other powder covering the grass. Success… and yet, he felt an odd sensation pass through his chest as he watched her; her eyes broke away from his and her shoulders hunched as she stared at the ground sadly. _Shit._ He'd gone too far, he always did with her.

Seto began to walk toward her, to embrace her or to shake her he wasn't sure, when he felt the now familiar feeling of ice hitting the back of his head. He turned his head quickly to find his younger brother scooping up more snow off the Blue Eyes statue. Mokuba had a wide grin stretched across his face as he tossed it at Seto, hitting him on the shoulder.

"Mokuba, cut it out. I need to talk to Alice," he began with an exasperated sigh. She was no doubt very upset and his brother's playful antics would just escalate the situation. That's what he thought, until a large amount of snow was dropped directly on top of his head. He stared wide-eyed as the "very upset" girl darted past him and went to stand beside Mokuba, hiding behind the Blue Eyes statue. They both quickly made snowballs and crouched down behind Frank's mighty legs. Everything clicked into place then.

"You played me," Seto accused, his astonishment clear in his voice.

Alice giggled as she peeked out from behind Frank, "Is it really so surprising? After all, isn't your little brother the master of manipulation," she mused with a cocky grin.

"Master?" Mokuba chimed in, "Why Miss Porter, that is mighty kind of you to say. I think I'm blushing."

"So this is how it's going to be?" Seto asked as he narrowed his eyes in an assessment of the two.

"Bring it on, pretty boy!" Alice mocked as she motioned with her index finger.

"Oh I will, doll." He responded with a vicious grin as he darted to the right, behind the bushes and out of their line of sight.

"Uh-oh." Mokuba muttered.

"What uh-oh?" Alice whispered back as she whipped her head around trying to locate Seto.

"Well, you know how good Seto is at dueling?"

"Yeah…" She answered unsure, not understanding where he was going with this.

"And you know how he dominated everyone at chess?" He asked with a slight hesitation.

"Mokuba, what are you getting at?"

"… Seto's a demon when it comes to snowball fights." He admitted with a sheepish expression.

Alice paled noticeably, "You're kidding…"

"I wish I was," Mokuba said with a shudder as he peeked over Frank's foot at the empty expanse of yard in front of them.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," she mumbled to him as she looked around Frank as well.

A barrage of snowballs began to hit them from what seemed like every direction. Though Frank, the mighty Blue Eyes statue, was a big shelter, he was doing them no good in the grand scheme of things.

"Abandon base!" Mokuba yelled as he shielded his face and sprinted off to the left.

"Mokuba!" Alice called out, but her partner in crime was already gone, safe from the bombardment of snow that continued to assail Alice.

Without giving it another thought she stood from her ineffective hiding place and hightailed it in the opposite direction Mokuba ran. She hurdled around a small tree and took some very confusing turns through what appeared to be a flower garden and a maze combined. The snowballs were no longer hitting her and there was no one chasing her, she was certain, but she continued to run blindly through the maze of a garden. Occasionally she would check over her shoulder for Seto, but there was never anyone behind her. While she was looking over her shoulder for the umpteenth time she stumbled over a large tree root and fell. Rolling down a slight hill and out of the maze, Alice sent snow flying everywhere as she tumbled down the slope. When she finally came to a stop, she was on her back and staring at the sky, out of breath and out of energy.

Alice watched as the gray clouds swirled above her head and more snow began to fall. Even if it hadn't been snowing, she probably wouldn't have noticed the tree root. "I _am_ a klutz," she realized with a quiet laugh.

Her view of the sky was suddenly obstructed by a dark silhouette; before her eyes could adjust she heard, "You really are, you know."

She smiled without thinking, she knew that voice anywhere. Her eyes adjusted and she could finally see Seto kneeling over her, his hair slightly damp from the snow and his eyes amused. "That looked like it hurt," he said with a considerate glance at the snow covering her body.

"I'm fine," she replied as she started to sit up. She felt something tugging on her clothes and cringed slightly.

"Stay still," Seto instructed quickly. "You've got thorns stuck to your jeans and sweater."

"Thorns?" Alice asked confused as he began to carefully pull the sharp barbs and vines away from her, brushing off the snow as he went.

"I was going to dump a whole bucket of snow on you," he said conversationally, "But I think you've coated yourself enough for the both of us."

Alice just rolled her eyes as Seto continued to de-thorn her. She took the opportunity to stare at her surroundings instead of the sky. She could see the path she'd taken down the hill from the maze, and the footprints that ran parallel to it must have been Seto's. He'd followed her all the way through the maze, and she hadn't seen or heard him. He was a better Shadow than she was, and that was a scary thought. She shook her head, dispelling it.

She had rolled all the way to the edge of a massive rose garden, which would explain the thorns that Seto was currently trying to pry from her clothes. There were dozens of orange rose bushes lining the ground, arches of the sunset flower stretched from end to end. There was a small fountain at the center of the garden, with a humble stone bench in front of it. It was one of the most stunning gardens Alice had ever seen, and it took her a moment to realize that it was winter and they shouldn't be blooming.

There was no snow around any of the plants' bases, just perfectly manicured mulch. The rose petals on most of the plants did have a small layer of frost on them, but not as much as there should be. It was an awe-inspiring sight, seeing roses thrive this profoundly right before winter, even if it was impossible.

"Done, you're thorn free," Seto said as he helped Alice get to her feet. Her black skinny jeans were ripped in a few places, but that couldn't be helped. Alice looked at him, trying to figure out how to ask about the rose garden, but the words wouldn't come to her. She ended up just staring from him to the sea of orange, then back to him.

"Speechless, huh?" He asked with a smug grin.

"It's beautiful," Alice managed to sigh out, gazing at the stunning garden.

Seto's expression softened, but he said nothing as Alice began to walk through the garden, occasionally touching one of the blossoming buds. She reached the stone bench and sat down on it, dipping her hand in the clear water of the fountain. It was warm. Not frozen over or cold like it should be, but lukewarm. This garden was an anomaly, a strange and wonderful anomaly.

Alice looked up at Seto and said the only thing that could sum up all of her questions, "I don't understand."

Seto sat down beside her on the bench and put his hand into the water, "It's heated. The entire garden is set on top of a giant circuit of heated tubes, kept at exactly the right temperature so that the roses can survive year round."

"Isn't that expensive?" Alice asked, cocking her head to the side.

He just smirked and said, "Billionaire." As if that explained everything, and it kind of did.

"But why orange?" Alice inquired as she picked up one of the sunset petals that had fallen from the arches.

Seto froze for half a second, then his expression locked into place and his eyes took on that cold glaze of indifference; his wall of callousness reinforced. She felt angry that he still tried to wall himself off from the world when things got too personal. _And how is a question about color personal? I mean really,_ she thought acidicly as she let the petal go and watched it float through the wind. Alice sighed.

It wasn't his fault, she knew that, but having someone you might possibly maybe care about shun your attempts at a closer relationship was still painful. She fixed her gaze on his steely expression, all barriers and masks in place, and gave him a small smile.

"It's alright, it isn't important that I know." Alice stood from the bench and motioned for him to do the same, "Let's go find Mokuba."

Faster than she could process, Seto reached out and grabbed her, pulling her down onto his lap. He wrapped his lean arms around her waist and buried his face in the crook between her shoulder and neck. Alice stiffened with surprise as she felt the warmth of his chest spreading through the back of her sweater.

"Seto?" She asked, her voice shaky and uncertain.

"My mother." Came his muffled reply.

"I'm sorry?" Alice blinked.

Seto pulled his head up and she turned in his arms to face him. His expression was still steely, but there was a feverish light to his eyes. "You asked me why orange, I was just answering you." He grated out in annoyance.

Alice stared at him, "I still don't understand."

Sighing, Seto placed his forehead back on Alice's shoulder before muttering, "When Mokuba and I got the mansion after our stepfather died, the kid insisted that some changes be made to make the place more… homey. He wanted something to remember our real parents by, something that would make the mansion seem less imposing. He wanted a rose garden of only orange flowers, a garden that would last year round. He wanted a garden that would only be up kept by the two of us, and he wanted it to be our private safe haven."

Seto sighed heavily again and raised his head, locking eyes with Alice, "All the roses are orange because they were our mother's favorite flower."

"That's incredibly sweet," Alice lamented with a soft sigh.

He grunted in response, turning his head away from her. Alice shifted until she was turned sideways on his lap, his arms still caged around her.

"I mean it," she said as she placed her hand on his chest, trying to get him to look back to her. "If I could do something that amazing for my parents," she broke off and bit her lip. His cobalt eyes flashed back to her and she swallowed the lump in her throat, "It'd be wonderful." Trying to lighten the mood she added, "Plus that explains why you kinda smell like roses."

They stared at each other for what felt like forever, but what was actually only a few moments before they heard rushed footfalls approaching.

"There you two are!" Mokuba exclaimed as he made his way out of the garden maze, "I see Alice found our orange haven, pretty impressive huh?" He asked breathlessly as he jogged down the hill toward them.

"Very impressive," Alice responded with a giggle.

"Looks like Seto got you good," he added with a laugh as he weaved his way through the rose garden.

"Actually I sort of got myself," she admitted with a coy grin as Seto brushed some more snow out of her hair.

"Somehow that doesn't sur– Alice! You're bleeding!" The raven haired teen exclaimed.

"Eh? Where!?" She demanded as she looked herself over. Sure enough, there was a stain of blood on her left side. It was hard to see because of the red on her sweater, but it was there alright.

"Looks like stitches aren't enough to keep you together," Seto grumbled as he lifted Alice into his arms and stood.

"You don't need to carry me, it's not that bad." Alice complained, "I don't even feel it."

"Knowing your luck you'd probably trip and fall into the pool on your way back to the mansion," Seto said with a cheeky smile. "Besides, I like you better when you're helpless."

"Masochist," Alice muttered disdainfully, but in the corners of her mind she knew he was right.

The moment they stepped through the back door, the maids and butlers swarmed toward them, boxing them in. It was a bit overwhelming for Alice, to say the least. Even though she had a maid of her own to wait on her, it was nothing compared to being waited on at the Kaiba Mansion. Everyone from young girls to old men were insisting on being the one to treat her. Her heart raced in her chest and the blood rushed from her head to the rest of her body. She was ready to flee. There were so many people. They were so close to her. There was no air in the room. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't see.

Mokuba was grinning like a fool, knowing that Alice must be really impressed by the speed and enthusiasm of their staff; but when he looked to her with his smug grin he felt it slip from his face as he found her face pale and her eyes beginning to glaze over. Panicked, he looked to his brother to find the older brunette only just noticing Alice's distress as well. Mokuba watched stunned as the ice in his brother's eyes melted and his forehead creased with worry. If it wasn't for the circumstances, Mokuba would have done a victory dance.

"Everyone get back to work, my brother can handle Alice himself!" Mokuba shouted over their voices, and then added under his breath with a sassy smirk, "At least he thinks he can."

Seto flashed a hard glare at his brother, but quickly shifted it to his waiting staff when they didn't move at his brother's order. As soon as the icy glare was directed their way the crowd suddenly dispersed, as if they had never been there. The only evidence of their swarm of excitement was the dizzy brunette that clutched weakly at her carrier's trench coat, and the lone clover haired maid that stayed behind.

"It's alright Ali, they're all gone now." Mokuba said reassuringly.

"You're claustrophobic." Claves accused with a disapproving frown, as if it were Alice's fault.

She took a few more panicked breaths, before she felt Seto's eyes drilling into her forehead. She looked up dizzily, ears ringing, and found him just staring down at her, not saying anything. Focusing on those dazzling sapphire and cobalt eyes of his, she tried to take slower and deeper breaths. She was safe. She wasn't in any danger. She was with her dragon. And he was holding her.

They were shaky, and her lungs felt as if they'd shrunk, but eventually she was breathing normally. She could feel the blood return to her head and her heartbeat slowing from its manic pace. Seto smirked then, just slightly, almost gently, like he knew she'd felt safe and comforted in his arms. Her cheeks tinged pink with the thought and his smirk intensified.

"I never would have thought you were claustrophobic," he said with a hint of smugness. "A klutz, an awful duelist, and now claustrophobic too. You're just a bundle of problems."

Mokuba laughed at his brother's joke and then added to a very disgruntled Alice, "I think you're perfect."

"Someone has to," Seto mocked and was rewarded with a slap to his chest. He just chuckled.

"Not to interrupt your fun," Alice said crossly, "But I am still bleeding here."

"And that's where I step in," Claves said statically as she approached the older Kaiba and stretched out her arms, "If I may?"

Seto stared at her for a moment, not comprehending her actions. Claves snorted in response, her hands going to her hips as she cocked them to the side and stared at him incredulously.

"I know you love your little damsel in distress, but really Mister Kaiba, if you keep this up everyone will think you have separation anxiety." She teased with a sly smile, daring him to object.

His expression froze momentarily before being replaced by a vicious smile, "If you think you can handle her, be my guest." Seto held Alice out away from his body toward the slim green haired woman; a challenge.

Claves outstretched her arms and took Alice from him, seeming to hold her with as little ease as he had. As soon as Alice was in her arms Claves turned on her heel and headed out of the kitchen, calling over her shoulder, "I'll have her back to you in no time."

"I can walk on my own," Alice told her as they neared one of the grand staircases.

Startled from her thoughts, Claves set her down and they walked up the stairs together. "I'm sorry Alice, I shouldn't have said those things."

"No need to apologize to me," Alice said as they neared Seto's room. "I actually found it rather entertaining."

Claves gave her an embarrassed smile, "I'm glad someone did, I'll probably be cleaning toilets for months because of it."

"If you knew you'd get in trouble, why'd you do it?" Alice asked curiously as she watched the clover haired woman pull out new bandages and gauze.

"My ego." Claves admitted as she blew her bangs out of her face disdainfully. As Alice rid herself of her sweater and old bandages, Claves added with a chuckle, "And for a moment I forgot it was Mister Kaiba I was talking to."

"Really? Who did you think you were talking to?" Alice quipped as the older woman examined her stitches.

"None of them have ripped," Claves said in an off handed tone as she started rewrapping the wounds.

"Claves?" The small brunette giggled. She was beginning to realize that the supposed "stone woman" displayed a lot more emotion when she was away from the other Shadows.

"What?"

"You're avoiding my question," Alice reminded her with a cognizing grin.

Claves sighed dramatically as she finished Alice's bandages. "If you really must know, I thought I was talking to a friend of mine. He has a habit of underestimating me, even if he doesn't mean it, and I just reacted instinctively."

Alice grinned widely, "Is this the same guy you like?"

"Here put this on," Claves responded as she threw a black KC hoodie at giddy brunette.

"I'm going to take that as a yes," Alice grinned evilly as she pulled the large hoodie over her head.

"You are so nosy." Claves grumbled back disdainfully as she led the girl out of the room by the hand, her cheeks only slightly pink.

"And you're blushing," Alice sassed as Claves dragged her through the Kaiba Mansion. They had taken so many turns and gone down so many sets of stairs that Alice was thoroughly lost. With a sheepish smile she turned to her Shadow, "Where are you taking me?"

It was Claves turn to flash an evil grin at Alice, "The media room, I figure I should take you to the Kaiba brothers before the tear the mansion apart looking for you."

"Why the media room?" Alice asked, ignoring the last part.

"You'll see," Claves said evasively as they rounded yet another corner.

"I don't like surprises," the brunette huffed in annoyance.

Claves pulled her to a stop outside a pair of oak double doors and smiled at her sweetly, almost _too_ sweetly, "Well then this should be entertaining."

Before Alice could so much as glare at her, she was knocking on the doors. There was some shuffling on the other side that caused Alice to eye her companion suspiciously, but as soon as the doors swung open she couldn't remember why she'd been staring at the clover haired woman at all.

Mokuba and Seto stood holding the doors open, but her eyes quickly flashed past the two teens to the colorful explosion in the room. There were balloons and streamers everywhere. The room would have been impressive without all the extra additions, with them it was like a sensory overload. The pool table, pinball machine, and air hockey table had all been pushed aside to make room for a small wooden table stationed under a banner that proclaimed 'Happy Birthday'. A simple cake and two shining presents sat on top of the wooden table.

"Oh my Ra." Alice groaned, her eyes flashing to the two grinning brothers standing next to her and the smug maid behind her.

"Do you like it?" Mokuba begged. "Seto and I found out a few days ago that it was your birthday today and we decided to have a party with just us! He let me pick out the decorations, and the cake, and I even got to pick what movies we'd watch," the raven haired boy gushed as he gestured to the 82" TV that hung proudly on the wall.

"Isn't this a bit much," Alice whimpered as she walked a little farther into the room, fingering the silver ribbon on the larger of the two presents.

"Not at all! You should see my birthday parties," Mokuba said cheerfully. "How about we open your presents first? Oh, Claves you can stay if you want to."

"I have things to clean, but thank you for the invitation Mister Mokuba," Claves said with a grin. "Have fun, Alice."

Alice flashed a pleading look at her Shadow, but with a quick wink the older girl was gone and the doors swung shut behind her.

Mokuba shoved the present she'd been messing with into her arms, smiling widely at her, "This one's from Seto."

Alice turned her pleading gaze to the CEO and found that he was looking at her with an amused half smile, "Well go ahead and open it."

Sighing in defeat, Alice walked over to the long black couch and plopped down on it with her first present. She eyed the package for a minute as the brothers made their way to the couch and sat on either side of her.

"Please tell me this isn't a duel disk," Alice drawled as she started ripping off the wrapping paper.

"I wouldn't waste the latest model on such an amateur," Seto chuckled as he twirled a lock of Alice's hair between his slim fingers. She used to think that his words were rude insults, but now that she knew him better she saw them for what they were; rude compliments. Though she continued to unwrap the present without saying a word, she was silently happy at his words and even happier that he was being so unwittingly affectionate.

Soon she held a new pair of white boots in her hands and she smiled at him radiantly, "Thanks, Seto. I really needed a new pair of these for work."

"Work?" He asked suggestively, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh shut up," she huffed as Mokuba handed her the next present.

"This one's from me," the raven haired boy said with a laugh.

Despite her dislike of surprises, she was finding the younger boy's enthusiasm contagious as she quickly unwrapped his gift.

"It's a key?" Alice asked, clearly confused.

Mokuba laughed eagerly, "It's not just any key! It's a key with a replica of Frank on it."

Alice looked at the key and found that he was right, there was a crystal replica of the Blue Eyes statue from their backyard hanging from the key. But the question was…

"What is the key to?" She asked almost hesitantly.

"Your new Arash AF10," Mokuba said proudly. "Well actually it's Seto's _old_ Arash, but it's still only a month old really."

"You got me a car!?" Alice asked Mokuba incredulously, then turned to Seto. "You let him give me your car!?"

Seto just chuckled, mirth dancing in his cobalt eyes, "You've had your fun kid, tell her what it's really to."

"Alright, alright." Mokuba said with a playful smile, "It's really a key to our mansion!"

"…" Alice sat on the couch in between the Kaiba brothers stunned speechless.

"You don't like it?" Mokuba whimpered, the smile on his face slowly fading.

"No, no! It's just that, well, you see," Alice sighed in exasperation.

"You're always so articulate," Seto mused with a smile as he continued to play with Alice's hair through her distress.

She smacked his hand away, trying to ignore how flirtatious he was being and just barely succeeding. She locked her emerald orbs with the devastated amethyst pair, "Mokuba, it's sweet and I love it, but I don't need a key to your house."

"But you're living here, aren't you?" Mokuba asked innocently, _too_ innocently; _What is with everyone and their too convincing reactions,_ Alice growled in her head.

"I am, but only until the Shadows–"

"Then you should have a key for that time," Mokuba interrupted, his happy grin back in place.

"But, Mokuba," Alice began, her voice slightly more desperate than she would have liked.

"Give it up, Alice," Seto whispered in her ear. "You aren't going to win against him. Just say thank you and move on."

Alice pouted slightly and she could feel Seto laughing next to her, "Thank you, Mokie."

"Welcome, Ali!" He responded as he bounded off the couch, "Now we can get to the real fun! Seto told me that you went and saw the eighth Jean Claude Magnum movie with Yugi and the others, so I thought we could spend the rest of the day watching the other seven!"

"Seven movies?" Alice blanched, she had trouble sitting through just one. "Mokie that'll take over fourteen hours! It'll be past midnight by the time we finish."

"That's the plan," Mokuba said with a goofy grin as he put in the first DVD and the 82" HD TV came to life.

"You have school tomorrow," Alice tried to reason. She turned to Seto, her best puppy dog face on, "He has school tomorrow."

Seto just smirked at her, brushing her bangs out of her face, "We all have school tomorrow, doll."

Alice's cheeks flamed in response and she buried her face in his shoulder, pouting, "But it's _my_ birthday."

With a deep chuckle, Seto wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her more firmly into him, "Well then you'll just have to suffer in silence."

And suffer, she actually didn't. After the first one she realized that watching movies with the Kaiba brothers was more entertaining than with her friends. Mokuba had a tendency to react very strongly to anything that happened in the film, causing her to giggle in response. And Seto would point out all the flaws in the plot and execution of the movie, making it impossible for her to be bored. They had already watched three movies by the time they stopped for dinner, and they were on their last one when they decided that they were in desperate need of sugar and caffeine.

Mokuba had passed out on one of the recliners, his hot chocolate forgotten on the coffee table, and Seto's black trench coat laid over the younger teen like a blanket. Alice and Seto were sitting on the couch, their shoulders pressed together as each sipped on their different beverages.

"I don't see how you can drink that stuff, it's pure sugar." Seto mocked as he watched the small brunette sigh contentedly into her cup.

"You're just jealous cause I'm not drinking something that tastes like tar," Alice responded, licking her lips. She then turned to look at him, her eyes shining curiously, "I do have a question though."

"And that is?" Seto asked as he watched her tongue poke out to lick her lips again.

"Mokuba said that you don't like hot chocolate…" She trailed off as she stared at her cup.

"And?" He prompted, wondering where this strange conversation was going.

Her eyes flashed up to his, "So it's true?"

Seto chuckled warmly, "Yes. Is that really so strange?"

"Yeah," Alice teased as she took another gulp of her sugary goodness.

"You don't like coffee, how is that any different?" Seto asked, trying and failing to hide his amusement.

"It just is," Alice teased sticking out her tongue playfully. Seto took this as an invitation and pulled her into a heated kiss.

Alice gasped in surprise, not expecting his advance when he'd kept his distance through the first six movies. He pushed her gently back, until she was laying on the couch with him hovering over her. Their cups fell to the floor, coffee and hot chocolate mixing together and seeping into the carpet. Seto pulled back for a moment to observe the mess.

"Your carpet's going to be stained if you don't clean that up soon," Alice mumbled, already feeling a blush coming on.

Seto looked back at the flushed goddess under him, and said with a cheeky smile, "Let it stain."

_Hottest words ever. Seriously._ He molded his lips back to hers, pleased when she responded by wrapping her arms around his neck, trying to pull him down onto her. Slowly, he lowered himself down, his toned body flush with her lithe frame. She moved her hands to his hair, running her fingers through his lush bronze locks. Alice was practically purring under him, so he was surprised when she pushed him up.

"Your brother is still in the room," she panted, her heavy lidded eyes barley staying open.

"He's asleep," Seto growled as he peppered kisses along her neck. "He won't wake up."

He recaptured her lips before she could protest any further and just like before she reacted instantly. Seto could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he brushed his tongue across her bottom lip,. She opened her mouth with a small moan and he felt said heart stutter in his chest. Everything she did had his heart racing and his body feeling so hot it should be a sin. She tasted like chocolate and strawberries, and he found himself groaning in pleasure as she ran her small tongue against his. Seto was in heaven, and he wasn't disappointed that it had nothing to do with Duel Monsters.

When Alice pushed him up again he went more willingly this time, needing the chance to breathe. He surveyed the havoc he had wreaked on her. Her cheeks were red and the blush was spreading down her chest, her hair was mussed and far sexier than she probably realized, her eyes were bright and smoldering with their emerald flames, and her lips were swollen and glistening softly thanks to his expert ministrations.

"Seto," the goddess said breathlessly, and he thought for a moment that he really was in heaven. "We really shouldn't do this with Mokuba in the room."

He grumbled inaudibly, resting his head on her chest. He knew she was right, but that didn't make it any easier to stop. Defiantly, he pressed one last passionate kiss against her supple lips before pulling them both back up to sit on the couch.

"You know, I could learn to like coffee," she giggled as she pressed her lips chastely against his.

He shook his head at the incorrigible green eyed girl, his lips fighting a smile as he quipped back, "Hot chocolate isn't that bad."

The two shared an amused look before they heard the sleeping boy on the recliner stirring.

"Is the movie over yet?" Mokuba asked groggily as he blinked at the black and white credits.

"Looks like it," Seto said gruffly ignoring Alice's "I told you so" look, "You should head to bed kid, it's around four and you aren't skipping class tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah. I remember the deal," Mokuba yawned and stretched as Seto went to cut off the TV and Alice flicked on the lights. "Well goodnight, Seto. Ali, I hope your birthday wasn't too boring," he said with a smirk as he hugged the birthday girl.

"Are you kidding, it was the best birthday I've had in eighteen years," she promised as she ruffled his hair affectionately.

"Good," Mokuba said, then added with a sly grin as he left the room, "Oh and you might wanna brush your teeth Alice, your breath smells like coffee."

The small brunette buried her face in Seto's chest, mortified as they stood in the doorway watching the raven haired boy dash away. Laughter could be heard throughout the halls of the Kaiba Mansion as Mokuba quickly made his way to his room, least some sort of "accident" befall him.

"You don't think he was actually awake, do you?" She mumbled into his chiseled chest, still too embarrassed to face Seto or any of the staff that could be wandering the halls.

"With him there's no telling," he said as he stroked her hair soothingly, "Come on, we should get some sleep too."

When they got to Seto's room, he immediately went into the bathroom and took a quick shower. Afterward, he toweled himself off, changed into his sweatpants, and brushed his teeth. As he came out of the bathroom he found Alice standing in front of the bedroom door, wearing her all white outfit he'd seen on Halloween, complete with the new boots he'd just bought her.

"I have a confession to make," she said with a nervous smile. "I won't be going to bed today or school for that matter."

"And why's that?" Seto demanded, crossing his arms tightly.

Alice swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat, "I umm, have to go to work."

Seto's eyes narrowed on the object she was hiding behind her back, "And by work you mean…"

"Yeah… I have to go play my other half. It's Monday, which means I'm a Shadow full time." Alice admitted as she hung her head shamefully, bringing the midnight black cloak in front of her.

"No." Seto growled through clenched teeth.

"No?" Alice echoed. "What do you mean no?"

Seto crossed the room in three strides, pulling her to him by the waist and pressing their foreheads together. "I mean no, as in not going to happen. You're not going to walk into that place after they tried to kill you."

"They didn't try to kill me," Alice argued, only just hiding the tremor in her voice. "They tried to kill some girl who helped Mokuba. They don't know who I am, I'll be fine."

"I said no," he seethed as he intertwined his fingers in her chocolate brown tresses, crushing the beautiful girl against his bare chest.

Alice exhaled a shaky breath, "I'm sorry Seto, but I _have_ to go, or they really will kill me. I've missed too many meetings as it is. Besides, I've got a plan."

"Oh, and what's that?" He asked as he pressed his lips to the crown of her head. They both paused for a moment, shocked that he'd done something so tender, but both were quick to recover.

"I'm going to try and turn some of the other Shadows," Alice said confidently. "I know that some of them are good people, and they have to see reason. And by going to the hospital I can do some damage control, Ra knows there needs to be some after that fight."

Reluctantly, Seto let go of her and stepped back, "You're sure about this?" He saw the determined flash in her eyes and knew the answer before she could say anything. "Alright then, let me get a shirt on and I'll drive you there."

Alice shook her head, "No good, if I show up with Seto Kaiba and don't bring him in that would just make things worse. I have to come in on my motorcycle, just like it's any other meeting."

Seto shook his head too, he was liking this situation less and less the more they talked about it. "Then I'll drive you to your house."

"Fair enough," she agreed as she bent down and grabbed her backpack.

Seto walked over to the pile of clothes that Alice had discarded on the floor and picked up the black hoodie. As he slipped it on Alice couldn't help but notice now that they were part of a matching set.

"Does everything you own have a KC on it," she asked hoping to lighten the mood.

It worked, Seto chuckled. "Not everything," he rasped as he brushed past her and held open the door. Alice tried to ignore the innuendo, but she processed the meaning all the same.

When they arrived at the Porter Estate all of the lights were off and everything was quiet, just as it should be. Alice opened the garage and pulled out her black Ninja and it roared to life. Reluctantly she put on the black cloak that marked her for what she was. She turned to wish Seto a good day of school, expecting to see anger, maybe even disgust, in his eyes for what she was, but she found his sapphire eyes full of only worry and her words died in her throat.

"Just be careful," he demanded harshly, averting his eyes. "I don't want to hear about the death of 'Red X' on the news tonight."

Alice's eyes softened considerably, _it may not be romantic, and he may be harsh, but in his own way he does care,_ she thought fondly. With an almost unnoticeable hesitation, she leaned over and kissed his cheek, "I promise."

Seto turned his eyes back toward her and blinked several times before he managed an amused smile, "Good."

With that Alice revved the motorcycle a few times before taking off down her driveway and into the early morning darkness. She would never admit to him that she was really terrified to go back to the hospital, but she was sure that somehow he knew. She had to go, there was really no choice, but having him tell her to be careful made her feel braver about facing the meeting, and the other Shadows that waited for her.

[_A/N: Finals are finally over! Hopefully that means I can crank out chapters like Mokuba on caffeine, lol! If you liked it, review and let me know:) if you hated it, review and rant like crazy! In conclusion, please review!_]


	21. Exodus

[_A/N: Sometimes, just sometimes, I wish that Fanfiction had like and dislike buttons like Youtube or Facebook. That way I could at least have a little more sense of whether y'all like where this is headed or not. Then again, the story's going to progress the way it will with or without my permission or yours, because that's just what real stories do._]

***Disclaimer*** (Yes, yes. I know I don't own "Yu-Gi-Oh!", no need to rub it in :p )

**Chapter 21 – Exodus**

When most people go to job meetings they worry about mundane things like statistics, promotions, inner office competitions, or getting fired. But Alice wasn't most people. While riding the elevator down to the fourth floor basement of the hospital, all she was thinking about was whether or not she'd leave the meeting alive.

She should have known something was wrong when Luke didn't pester her over the intercom for her credentials. She should have known then, should have, but didn't. It wasn't until she stepped off the elevator, cloak on and hood up, and saw Luke standing in front of her that she realized what had been missing. Even then, it didn't quite register, but other things did.

He was wearing normal clothes; black converse, black skinny jeans, and a dark gray t-shirt with a lighter gray oxford shirt over it, the sleeves rolled up to his mid forearm. He was also sporting a scowl and the black eye Mokuba had given him. His cloak was nowhere in sight, breaking one of Vesuvius' many requirements.

"What's going?" Alice asked, keeping some distance between her and the Shadow in case she needed to make a run for it.

Luke's scowl melted into a timid grin, "Hey Red, is that you? Long time no see, how you been?"

"Stop it, Lucas. Just answer the bloody question." She demanded harshly.

Luke chuckled in response, "Yep that's you alright, snarky and just too damn precious. Well it's kind of a long story really. We'll go over it in the meeting, come on."

He started walking toward the meeting room and Alice reluctantly fell into step beside him. They were silent for a time before her natural curiosity got the better of her.

"Can't you at least tell me why you're breaking rule two?" She begged.

"You got the rule book memorized, sweet pea? Ha, I always knew you were a goody goody, Red." Luke teased as he looked at his fellow Shadow fondly, "And what, no concern for my black eye? Some friend you are."

It was then that Alice remembered she shouldn't know about the other Shadows' injuries, "Oh my goodness, I hadn't even notice! Your eye, what happened to it?"

She'd perhaps laid it on a bit thick, but if Luke noticed he didn't call her on it, "That's better. And yeah I'm fine, it was a lucky punch, I'll tell you the details in the meeting. As for your rule two, I figure I don't need to follow it since our benefactor won't be making an appearance."

"Vesuvius isn't coming?" Alice asked in surprise.

Luke cut his eyes across to her, narrowing them slightly, "No, but we don't know why the Master won't be here. Jasper seems to want to tell us all at once at the meeting."

"I suppose it's easier explaining it once instead of nine different times," she reasoned as they approached the open door to the meeting room.

"Yeah, but it still would have been nice to know the prime gossip before hand," Luke grumbled as he pulled out Alice's chair for her then took a seat in his own.

"You are such a girl," Alice teased with a laugh as she wedged her backpack between the legs of her chair.

"And don't you forget it, girlfriend." He mocked, his impression of a gay man far better than it should be.

"Finally come out of the closet I see," Zack howled as he plopped down in the seat next to Luke. "Man I'm happy for you, but I gotta say if you start sneaking peeks at me in the locker room we're gunna have a smack down."

"Oh pl-ease Zachariah, he's not gay. How could he be when he's dating me?" Scarlet declared with a haughty smile.

"That's why I think he's gay," Zack muttered under his breath just loud enough for her to hear.

Instead of exploding, Scarlet simply examined her nails with a murderous glint in her eyes, "And how many girlfriends have you had, hmmm?"

Zack narrowed his eyes at the amazon, "That's a low blow."

"It's the only kind I deal sweetie," she mused with a sultry grin.

"Luke, can you put a muzzle on her? Her voice is giving me a headache," Zack grumbled to his best friend.

Alice expected Luke to laugh at his request, or at least grin in apology, but instead the blonde Shadow's expression darkened, "You started it dude."

The ginger man frowned in response, "Come on bro, you can't seriously still be angry about that."

_Angry about what?_ Alice thought quickly as she looked between the two men. _Is Zack the reason that Luke was scowling earlier?_

"Of course I'm still mad you idiot," Luke said harshly. "Because of your 'artistic display' we could all get seriously busted when the Master returns."

"I thought it was a good idea at the time," Zack argued quietly as he rubbed his paint stained hands on his equally paint splattered jeans.

"How was graffiting our elevator a good idea?" Claves chimed in, sounding like a school teacher reprimanding a student.

Alice turned in her chair to look down the hallway to the main elevator, trying to see what Zack had graffitied there.

Sure enough, the metallic doors were coated in red, black, and white spray paint. Zack had used the paint to graffiti the word "Shadows" diagonally across both the doors. Alice had to admit that it looked pretty professional and did add some color to the lifeless basement, but Luke was correct; Vesuvius would not be pleased.

"Well, it makes the place less bland." Zack responded weakly.

"It's supposed to be bland! It's a hospital, not an art convention." Luke grumbled sourly.

"Enough you two, you're squabbling like children." Nigel cut in, his voice gruff and his jaw flexed. "Can't we just start this meeting."

"You know we can't, we're still missing too many people," Chandra chimed in from under her hood.

"Yeah well where the hell are they? It's almost five." Damien grumbled.

No one answered Damien's question, but they each looked around the room like someone should know the answer. Alice had remained silent during the group discussion, partly because it was expected of her, and partly because she was in silent shock. Only herself and Chandra were even wearing their cloaks, thankfully Chandra had her hood up as well. Every other Shadow was wearing regular clothes, with the exception of Scarlet, who was wearing her school girl outfit from Halloween.

"We're here," Hayden replied calmly as he and Jasper entered the room and took their seats. Sliding in next to Alice, Hayden smiled slightly and muttered, "Hey X, glad you could make it. We've got quite a lot to discuss and texting all of this wouldn't do it justice."

The brunette bit her lip, already knowing most of what would be discussed, "I can see that already. But why isn't Master Vesuvius here?"

"I suppose I should start, if I may ma'am?" Jasper cut in addressing Claves.

The clover haired woman nodded smoothly, "Of course, and your status report if you please."

"So why won't the Master be here?" Scarlet restated eagerly, her manicure no longer interesting her.

"Master Vesuvius won't beh 'ere because he's interrogatin' his brother again. Turns out the rotten snake might know more than he let on." Jasper said savagely.

Alice clenched in her chair, this was news to her. She'd been sure, _positive_, that Vesuvius had believed the lies they had told him. It had worked for over two years, why was Vesuvius suddenly questioning it now? Unless Vesuvius knew that Alice had the card! If that were the case then he would be looking for verification and the location of the shattered tablet pieces.

"I doubt Pegasus knows anything else, it's just cruelty and entertainment at this point. Not that I mind," Damien added with a vicious smile.

"If there is even a chance that Pegasus does have more information, then Master Vesuvius will drag it out of him… even if they are related," Chandra commented with a shiver.

_They're not related. They're not related. They're not related,_ Alice chanted in her head as the discussion dragged on. Her nails were digging into her palms and she was sure that if it wasn't for the cloak she hated so much, everyone would know that this conversation bothered her.

Hayden turned his head toward her, but she was so consumed with her denial that she didn't notice. The white haired boy stared, cocking his head to the side silently as he observed her.

_I've always known they were brothers,_ Alice continued in her head, _I had to know. But I don't like it, because that means that Vesuvius is my–"_

"Could we get back to the topic at hand please," Hayden interrupted lightly, eyes still trained on Alice.

"Yes, good call Hayden." Claves muttered then cleared her throat, "Your status report, Jasper?"

"Right o'. As the Kaiba's new personal doctor I got a real nice look at his brother's condition, the kid will beh no trouble to take when I go back for his check up Wednesday. As fer the girl… I wasn't permitted to see 'er." The Australian grumbled.

"I'm sorry, what girl? And why is Seto's brother injured exactly?" Scarlet asked with an annoyed huff.

"Oh, sorry Scar! I guess I should've given my status report first," Luke said sheepishly as he looked at his girlfriend. "After we watched the Porter girl's duel, I overheard that Kaiba's little brother was in Kaiba Land. It turns out that he was watching Porter's duel too and that they were planning to have dinner at the Kaiba Mansion later."

Scarlet cut in, "Hold on. Are you telling me I was ditched so you could stalk some skanky brunette and a rich midget?"

"It wasn't his call," Hayden stated, saving Luke from his angry girlfriend. "Master Vesuvius made the decision for us."

"How?" She demanded, eyes narrowed in disbelief. "I don't recall running into the Master at the duel, so unless you have him on speed dial–"

"I do." Hayden lamented in a toneless voice, "You know I do."

Scarlet's face took on the hue of her namesake, "Oh, that's right… I'd forgotten. You two are just so… different."

_Wait… what?_ Alice thought as looked between the once fearsome Shadow and the silent boy next to her, I don't understand… The confused brunette looked to the boy with the white hair trying to comprehend what was just said. She found that he was looking at her too, his pink and purple eyes oddly sad. He gave her a slight smile, before turning back to the embarrassed amazon woman across from him.

"Indeed we are," he responded humorlessly, then looked across Alice to Luke, "You can continue."

"Thanks man," Luke muttered before launching into a full account of what took place in the empty field.

As Luke retold the tale each Shadow flashed their battle wounds and added details when Luke's descriptions were lacking. By the end of it Alice learned that Luke got a black eye and bruises along his stomach and arms; Zack's nose was broken, he had second degree burns, and a stiletto sized bruise on his thigh; Nigel had a dislocated shoulder, a fractured jaw, and bruises coating his legs; Damien lost two toes, had third degree burns, and was looking rather murderous; and Hayden received bruises along his neck, shoulders, and face and he swore he wouldn't be able to have kids thanks to Mokuba's well placed kick.

Even though it was in self-defense and to protect Mokuba, Alice still felt a pang of guilt go through her as she witnessed the damage she, Mokuba, and Aeris had caused. Her guilt however, was quickly wiped away by Scarlet's next words.

"So, that Amanda bitch obviously has some training if she took all of you on."

The room grew silent for the a second time before Claves spoke up with a barely hidden grin, "Who's Amanda?"

"You know! That Porter girl that's always following around Seto; I got her first name when I interrogated her in the store a week ago." Scarlet proclaimed proudly.

This time Claves didn't even try to hide her grin, "Her name's Alice, Scar. She lied to you because you were acting too suspicious."

The red eyed woman's jaw dropped, "No way! I'm totally discreet, there's no way that she thought I was anything other than nice."

"Perhaps you aren't as subtle as you think you are," Claves remarked dryly, then added when Scarlet's face twisted in rage. "But you did find out the younger Kaiba's name, and Master Vesuvius will reward you for that."

"It was easy," Scarlet sighed as she flipped her hair. "If I hadn't followed Joseph to Kaiba Land none of you would have ever figured out Mokuba's name."

"The kid's name isn't important, what is important is that we find this Alice girl and make her pay for opposing us," Nigel seethed through his clenched jaw.

"Agreed." Damien snarled as he said, "Kaiba's whore needs to be taught a lesson."

If it wasn't for the slight ringing in her ears Alice would have tried to reason her way out of being blamed. If word got to Vesuvius that she had openly opposed the abduction of Mokuba, there would be no end to his rage. She thought that the meeting room couldn't get any louder, but Claves proved her wrong.

"It wasn't Alice that you fought with."

"Of course it was," Zack scoffed.

"Yeah, who else would be walking with the kid to his house?" Damien added.

"I don't know," she replied steadily. "But what I do know is that my charge was nowhere near that field." Claves leaned across the table toward Damien, "Have you forgotten that I am Alice's Shadow? Do you not think I would know where she is at all times?"

Alice sucked in a barely audible gasp; why was Claves protecting her? Hayden and Luke's eyes both shifted to the cloaked brunette. The clover haired woman was taking a great risk by lying for her. What could she possibly have to gain by shielding Alice? What was her goal?

"I… she… it was definitely her!" Damien sputtered in response.

"Think again." Claves responded coolly. "I followed Alice after the duel and the only place she went was home. She stayed there for exactly forty-five minutes before then walking to the Kaiba Mansion. She never made contact with any of you."

"You're sure?" Hayden verified, looking away from Alice to Claves intently. "No one would blame you if you lost track of her for a minute, it could happen to anyone."

Claves the stone woman's cheeks turned slightly pink, "Must you always underestimate me. I'm telling you that she never went near that field."

"Alright, I was just checking." Hayden said with a cheeky smile, "I believe you."

"Well I still don't. I could have sworn that the kid yelled 'Alice' when I kicked her." Damien seethed.

"Could you not have simply misheard, after all you said the weather was rather chaotic. Perhaps the wind was too loud, or there was a crack of thunder?" Claves suggested, her tone patronizing.

"I know what I heard," Damien said stubbornly. He then turned to Zack, "Back me up here man."

Zack shook his head, "I think you may be wrong on this one man. No offense, but this isn't exactly Claves' first assignment. Not to mention I'm pretty sure I heard Mokuba call her Agnes."

"Agnes, Alice, same fucking thing!" Damien snarled. "Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks that Alice is the one we fought!"

"I agree with you," Scarlet lamented.

"Me too!" Chandra chimed in after her leader agreed.

"As do I," said Jasper.

"But you guys weren't there," Zack mentioned offhandedly.

"Screw you, Zachariah." Scarlet yelled, slamming her palms onto the table.

"No thanks, I don't sleep with sluts." Zack bite back.

"Guys! Cut it out, damn. We're getting nowhere with this," Nigel ground out before beginning to rub his bruised jaw.

"Nigel is right, let's think about this logically." Claves suggested, "If you won't take my word that Alice wasn't there then I'll just have to prove it somehow."

"Well how do you plan on doing that?" Damien demanded.

"I'm not sure, but in the end the truth will out." She said with such conviction in her voice that even Alice began to believe that she hadn't been in the fight.

"What does Alice look like again?" Luke asked, finally joining the conversation.

"What?" Claves quipped, her eyebrows furrowing together.

"Well if the girl you describe isn't the girl we fought, we can put this agreement to rest." He explained.

To Claves' credit she didn't show any outward signs of distress. Her expression remained passive as she said, "She's a little under 5'5'', long brunette hair, green eyes, and pale skin."

Alice exhaled a shaky breath, she had expected Claves to lie again for her. Now they were all about to be certain that the girl who beat them was her, and Vesuvius would find out about her treachery all the quicker.

"That sounds like her!" Damien exclaimed enthusiastically.

"I don't think so Damien," said Hayden slowly, his eyes flickering almost imperceptibly first to Claves then to Alice.

"Why not?" Damien demanded, "Her hair was dark, and her skin was pale!"

"I fought with her one on one, and her eyes were not green, they were almost black. Perhaps a dark brown, but not a green." Hayden said calmly.

"I thought they were blue," Zack chimed in. "Remember when all that freaky lightning started striking? That girl we fought looked like she was glowing with the same blue electricity, and I'm pretty sure it was the color of her eyes."

"Alright, so her eyes weren't green." Damien conceded, "So what, she was still pale, short, and a brunette." He argued desperately, grasping at straws.

"The girl we fought had black hair," Luke said as he glanced at Hayden, "I think Claves is right on this one."

"It was raining, her hair just looked darker." Damien said back.

"She definitely had black hair." Nigel agreed.

"Not you too, Nigel." Damien groaned. "Is everyone against me on this now? That bitch took two of my toes; I want to see her pay!"

"I want to see Porter go down more than anyone," Scarlet said to Damien, "But from what they're saying it wasn't that slutty brunette that protected Kaiba's brother."

"Fine. Then let's find out who did." Damien said with a sigh, slouching in his chair.

"We will." Hayden promised, "But we should leave that to the Master."

Luke nodded, "Agreed."

"So am I to tell 'im that Mokuba Kaiba was protected not by Alice, but by some girl with black 'air and blue eyes?" Jasper verified.

"That sounds precisely right," Claves stated.

"Black hair and blue eyes…" Scarlet repeated, her eyes growing wide and her expression becoming worried.

"What is it Scar?" Luke asked.

"It's nothing," she said dismissively. "Can we move on to the next order of business already?"

"Of course," Claves replied evenly. "I suppose you can give your report next."

"Fantastic. Well for starters Joseph's girl is no longer in town, so she would be difficult to use as bait." Scarlet said with a scowl, then added, "However, Claves was correct when she said that Joseph thought of this Alice girl as a sister. Since Mai is no longer present I think that we should either use Alice as bait or just get over it and take Joseph in for questioning."

"That's a very good call, Scar." Claves said with an imperceptible nod. "I was just thinking recently that we should bring her in."

_Oh, son of a Kuriboh. _Alice cursed in her head.

"Can I go now?" Chandra asked quietly.

"Of course, proceed." Claves responded kindly.

Chandra nodded under her cloak and spoke in a hushed tone, "Yugi has been rather difficult to follow lately, it seems almost like he knows I'm tailing him. I suggest we take the Gardner girl, since taking the King of Games himself might not get us anywhere."

"Alright, we'll take your advice under consideration," Claves lamented. "X, what about you?"

Alice shuttered, hating this, but gave her report all the same. "Kaiba has been keeping his little brother – who we now know is Mokuba – under house arrest so that nothing worse happens to him. After your failed attempt to take him, Kaiba has been increasingly paranoid, taking every possible precaution to ensure his brother's safety." Alice paused, glancing at Jasper before saying on a whim, "I doubt he'll even let you in the house on Wednesday, Jasper." _Especially if I have anything to say about it,_ Alice added mentally.

"Mista Kaiba is suspicious of me?" Jasper asked a bit stunned, then drawled in his Australian accent, "Well that would explain why he was so eager to get me out of the mansion."

"Is there anything else you'd like to add?" Claves questioned.

_Is there anything else *you'd* like to add?_ Alice shot back mentally, _I'm not the one posing as a maid and parading around with a bag full of secrets. Well, the secrets part yes._ "No, nothing worth mentioning."

"Very well," Claves said, her eyes narrowing slightly. "I've been making significant progress when it comes to my newest project the Master assigned me. Alice has been interesting to follow, to say the least. I've seen a dozen shouting matches between her and Kaiba, a fake date she had with Duke Devlin, a duel for pride between a classmate of hers, and," Claves hesitated, her voice breaking quietly, "And I've seen how deeply she cares for both of the Kaiba brothers."

The meeting room grew utterly silent for a moment before Claves released a heavy sigh, "I think that if we want to get to Kaiba, we should go through her."

_Ouch,_ Alice grimaced as she heard the murmured agreements of all of the Shadows. They weren't really her friends, she reminded herself, but that didn't stop the feeling of betrayal from echoing in her mind. It was to protect Mokuba, she chastised herself, but she still felt queasy when she thought about being dragged into one of the holding cells.

"You're Kaiba's Shadow, what do you think X?" Claves asked harmlessly.

Alice released the breath she didn't know she'd be holding, "I think that's… a brilliant idea. I mean, who better to bring Kaiba running than the only girl who holds a key to his mansion."

Claves eyes widened, but she said smoothly with a sly smile, "My thoughts exactly."

_~~~DFAD~~~_

Alice exited the service elevator into the wintry sunshine, her boots kicking up the loose gravel of the hospital roof as she walked toward the edge. She paused in front of the raised ledge, running a finger along the ashy colored concrete in contemplation. With a grunt she hiked herself up, teetering for a moment before gaining her balance.

Standing there on the edge of the roof she was no longer sheltered from the chilly wind, and her cloak began to whip brutally around her. Growing annoyed with the traitorous garment, she pulled it off over her head, discarding it to the ground. Alice wrapped her thin arms around herself, preferring to be cold to wearing the hideous shroud. A small smile played across her lips as she imagined her friend's reactions to seeing her poised on the roof like she was.

As long as she could remember, Alice had always loved heights; loved the smell of the wind, the hint of danger in the situation, and the utter peace and solitude it ensured. Whenever she needed to think or she was feeling too boxed in, she would head for high ground in a very literal sense. She was aware that to others standing on the ledge of a roof might seem reckless and potentially insane, but she found the clarity of her thoughts worth all the ridicule in the world. She closed her eyes briefly, enjoying the breeze and the sunlight on her face.

Sighing, Alice crouched down before seating herself on the roof, not bothering to worry about getting her white pants dirty. Pulling her knees into her chest, she hugged them for all they were worth as she stared at the houses and buildings in the distance. There was one building that stood taller, more imposing than the rest, and as she laid her head on her knees she attempted to banish the image of the Kaiba Corporation building from her mind.

She'd gotten herself into quite a situation, and it was no one's fault but her own… and perhaps Vesuvius. It did her no good to think about the what ifs in her life, so instead she focused on what she could do about the future. There weren't a lot of options available to her, but she'd just have to play it by ear and hope that it was enough.

The sounds of the rushing wind all but drowned out the mechanical tolls of the approaching elevator. Alice's head shot up when the ticking finally pierced through the wind, and she flung herself off the ledge and lunged for her cloak. The elevator was already opening – her hand clutching the velvet garb seconds too late – as Hayden stepped out.

"Don't bother," he said lightly as he stalked toward her slowly. "I've known you were Alice for a while now, X."

"How?" She breathed, clutching the cloak to her chest.

The white haired boy stopped right in front of her, his expression unreadable as he reached out and took the cloak from her. "It was a few things really. That fight, in the old baseball field; it took me awhile after it to realize how you were able to best all of us so easily, like you knew how we were going to attack. There was also something familiar about the way you moved, I can't fully explain it though. And lastly," he paused, "In the meeting, when Claves lied for you."

"Claves didn't lie," she began, but he cut her off with a dry chuckle.

"I've know Claves for a long time, so I know when she's lying. The question became why and then all the pieces just fell into place," he explained as he fingered Alice's cloak.

"What… what are you going to do about it?" She asked nervously.

"About you being our target?" He asked, blowing out a long breath, and saying cautiously, "Nothing, I'm going to do nothing."

"But, but why?" Alice demanded flabbergasted, "I mean, not that I'm ungrateful, but I don't understand. Why withhold the information from Vesuvius?"

Hayden stared at her kindly, "Because I've been thinking lately that someone needs to stand up to him, I was just too much of a coward to do it myself. If you're willing to go against him, then I'll be your backup."

"You'd fight with me, even if it meant," Alice hesitated, then her theory rushed out in a hoarse whisper, "Even if it meant betraying your own father?"

The boy's expression became hauntingly still as he said, "Vesuvius may be my father, but that doesn't mean I approve of his… methods. Any rational human being would start to doubt his actions and see the flaws in his schemes."

"And so if I were to go against him, you'd support me even then?" She asked again.

"Claves, Lucas, and I have been planning a coup for over two years, ever since he became obsessed with this card. Sure, he's been searching for it for eight years before, but recently he's been thinking of nothing else, he's unbearable," he confided. "When you go against him we'll stand with you. Nigel and Zack will come around eventually too, so you only have to worry about five main threats; Scarlet, Chandra, Damien, Jasper, and of course Vesuvius himself."

Alice nodded, feeling extreme gratitude that some of the other Shadows were also tired of Vesuvius' tyranny and willing to act. She still felt a need to verify as she said, "Thank you, Hayden. You've always been kind to me, and to go against him even though he's your dad–"

"Stop it," Hayden said with a shake of his head, "It's no different than what you're doing. I've done the research Alice, I know who you are."

"Oh," she responded lamely. "So you're helping me because of some kind of family obligation then?"

"Alice, I'm about to betray my father. Helping you has nothing to do with how we're related. I want to help you because I would like to do the right thing for once in my life," he said with a sad smile.

"I can understand that," she admitted with a sigh.

The elevator came to life behind them, announcing that they would soon be joined. Hayden fingered the cloak he had taken from Alice, then looked to her with a determined expression.

"Here, you're going to need to put this back on." Alice took the garb Hayden offered and she quickly slid it over her head and then began twisting her hair so that none would spill out of the hood. As she slid her hood up Hayden said with a smile, "Pity, you looked good in white."

Alice had no time to respond however, because the elevator gave one last toll before opening its doors and letting a very annoyed Claves out.

"There you are, Hayden," she said with a huff. "I've been searching for you everywhere."

Hayden smiled widely, his eyes taking on an unearthly glow as he quipped lazily, "So you've finally realized you love me then? You didn't have to come track me down, I've always known."

"Please," Claves mocked; the slightest hint of a smile on her lips. "We both know that is never going to happen."

"I can dream though can't I," he muttered whimsically to Alice, who had to struggle to suppress her giggles.

Even though Claves didn't hear him the clover haired woman rolled her eyes heavenward, "You are incorrigible. I came to inform you that Jasper requires your assistance. He's having a difficult job explaining everything to Master Vesuvius, so he requested your expertise."

"Expertise? Why Claves, I'm blushing," he teased with a wink as he heeded her advice and moved toward the elevator.

"His words not mine," Claves shot back with an amused expression.

"But you are the one who came to get me," Hayden argued back with a smile as he hit the call button, "Just admit that you missed me and wanted me come to your rescue again."

"I don't recall you ever rescuing me before," the green haired woman replied with a wicked grin.

The elevator doors opened and Hayden took a small step back as he gasped, "My fair maiden, you wound me so. You see how badly she treats me," he directed to Alice. "If I wasn't in love with her I wouldn't put up with this kind of abuse."

"He's kidding," Claves assured Alice in a dry tone, then said to Hayden, "If you can't stand the abuse why don't you go find another job, or maybe a life."

Hayden smiled at her sweetly, "Marry me and I will."

Claves smiled in return, "Never going to happen."

"I'll get you to say yes eventually," he declared with a carefree laugh, as he shoved his hands in his pockets and the elevator doors started to close.

"In your dreams," Claves mocked.

And it might have been the howling November wind, or the hopeless romantic inside her, but Alice could have sworn she heard him mutter, "Every night."

Alice turned to look at Claves, confused that she hadn't followed Hayden back down into headquarters, when she realized Claves was blushing. Hard. The woman's whole face was glowing red! It set off the pale green of her hair stunningly and made her eyes seem wet with unshed tears. To say Alice was shocked was putting it lightly; she felt like she'd just discovered that they were planning to make another spin off show of Zorc and Pals. The small brunette stared at the woman, bursting with curiosity but too timid to voice her inquiries while she was Red X.

"Alright, out with it already," Claves sighed as she turned to Alice, her blush only just under control again, "I know you're about to explode."

Alice cleared her throat, "It's none of my business."

Claves laughed loudly and shook her head, "That's something I never thought I'd hear you say. It's alright, Alice, I know you have a lot of questions."

Sighing, Alice pushed her hood down and stared at the women in front of her, "So you do know."

Claves gave her a pathetic attempt at a smile, "I think that by this point even Lucas knows. It's only a matter of time before word gets to Master Vesuvius."

"I know," Alice said, putting on her brave face. "I guess that's why you were lying for me."

"Right on the money," Claves responded. "You're our best hope of straightening this all out and not ending up in jail."

"Well when you put it like that," she huffed sarcastically.

"Come on, ask your real questions." Claves encouraged.

The brunette gave her a giddy smile, "It's Hayden! You like Hayden."

"Yes." Claves said simply, her face impassive.

"Then why didn't you play along? Go on a date with him or something?" Alice demanded.

"Because he isn't serious, and if he is he shouldn't be. I'm five years older than him Alice, it'd just be wrong." Claves stated, her arms crossed defensively over her chest.

"But he totally loves you! That should be all that matters," Alice argued with a dreamy light to her eyes.

Claves stared at the brunette for a heartbeat then said, "Did you think that about Seto when you first met him?"

Alice flushed, "But I don't, I mean I never said. Damn, sorry."

The lavender eyes of the women softened, "It's quite alright, we're all hypocrites from time to time."

The elevator began to toll again, announcing the assent of its cargo to the roof. Both women exchanged a loaded look, and Alice pulled up her hood grumbling, "Not again."

When the doors opened two more Shadows stepped out – Zack and Luke – both laughing and smacking each other, their earlier fight seemingly forgotten. As they caught sight of the two women they gave each other one last shove before straightening up.

"Hey ladies, did you come up here to enjoy the view?" Zack mocked with a chuckle.

"Yes, actually we did." Claves said with a sharp smile.

"Sorry to interrupt then, but we need our fearless leader," the red head said with a sly smile.

"Exactly, so Red," Luke said with a joking smile as he placed a hand on Alice's shoulder, "We're going to have to steal her, so she can give us some sparring advice in the training rooms."

"Of course, sorry to keep you." Alice said quietly, bowing her head.

"Fearless leader huh?" Claves asked as she and Zack walked back toward the elevator, "I think I like the sound of that."

Both Shadows had gotten into the already waiting elevator, but the third blonde Shadow remained at Alice's side.

"You coming, Luke?" Zack asked, holding the elevator.

Luke looked at Alice, his expression torn, then he turned to Zack and said, "Yeah." He walked a few paces away and then paused. Looking over his shoulder he said to Alice, "You know, I've been thinking recently that maybe there are more important things than being a Shadow. That maybe in the end the choices we've made can be changed, just saying."

When he got into the elevator Zack asked him what he said, and Luke shook his head, "Just some advice."

Alice stood gaping after the blue eyed Shadow, shocked to realize that Claves was right; Luke knew exactly who she was. Even though her allies were increasing by the minute, she couldn't help but feel uneasy as she left the hospital and headed back to the Kaiba Mansion.

_~~~DFAD~~~_

"Is that a motorcycle in our driveway?" Mokuba asked excitedly as the Kaiba limo pulled through the gates.

"Yes, that's Alice's bike," Seto admitted as he held the door open for Mokuba to bound out of and into the falling snow.

"It's so cool!" The raven haired boy exclaimed as he ran a hand along the bike's sleek black paint, brushing away the icy snowflakes, "Can I have one, big bro?"

"Not a chance," Seto scoffed, ushering the younger teen inside. "Motorcycles require balance, coordination, and quick reflexes; three things you don't have."

"Then why does Alice have one?" Mokuba teased with a laugh as he handed a maid his backpack.

Seto let out a low chuckle, "Good point, but try telling her that."

As their staff took all of their school things, Seto asked discreetly if Alice had arrived back to the mansion. He was informed that she had indeed returned; she arrived shortly after noon and once she had eaten lunch she'd gone to his room and had been there since. Seto turned away from his staff and began climbing the stairs, ready to demand that she tell him what happened at her supposed meeting.

"Where you going, bro?" Mokuba asked as he hurried after Seto.

"To check on our guest," he said simply.

"I'll come too. Do you think she's feeling better? She wasn't too sick this morning was she?" Mokuba worried.

"Oh, I think she's feeling better by now," Seto said with a scowl.

"It's not her fault she got sick, Seto." Mokuba defended.

The elder Kaiba chose not to respond as he pushed open the door to his room, and Mokuba trailed in behind him. The Kaiba brothers stood next to each other, staring at the girl that was huddled in the middle of Seto's grandiose bed, looking smaller than a child's doll. The comforter was at the foot of the bed, the satin sheet covering her legs was twisted around her arms, and her head was resting between the two pillows. Alice was breathing evenly, her eyes closed and her face unlined as she rested away her "illness".

"Ali looks so peaceful," Mokuba whispered with a smile.

Seto tried to hide his own smile, "Yeah she does, now get out."

"Fine, but I better get to see her later tonight." The teen declared quietly before leaving the room.

The CEO made his way to the bed and sat down on the corner, "He's gone, you can stop acting now."

"How did you know?" The tiny brunette asked as she sat up, large green eyes curious.

"I just know you that well," he declared with a conceited smirk.

"Is that so?" Alice asked with a disbelieving smile.

"You doubt me?" He sneered at her.

"Only because I know you that well," she mocked with a giddy grin.

Seto's sneer softened until he was grinning back at her, then he leaned toward her and smoothed out her mussed hair, "There's still snow in your hair doll and you forgot to close the curtains."

Alice's cheeks flushed just like he knew they would and she gave him a sheepish laugh, "Your timing was awful, I had just stepped out for some fresh air when I saw the limo pull in. I had to rush to get in the bed and make it look believable."

"And why the sudden urge to trick us?" Seto probed with an eyebrow raised.

"Not us, just Mokie." She admitted with a guilty shrug. When Seto failed to say anything Alice explained, "Well I didn't think he should hear about the meeting."

_~~~DFAD~~~_

"You're screwed." Seto said after Alice had finished her summary.

"Thank you, for that vote of confidence." She bit back.

"Well it turns out that your 'secret identity' isn't as secret as you thought. Not only that but if it hadn't been for one of my maid staff, you could have been risking everything." He ground out.

"I'm quite aware of that," Alice said defensively.

"And it would have been nice to know earlier that you're related to that snake, Pegasus." He added with a scowl.

"You're still going on about that?" She huffed.

"He stole my brother's soul." Seto articulated dryly.

"And Vesuvius tried to do worse," Alice reminded him.

"That doesn't make me hate Pegasus any less."

"Sweet Slifer, can you hold a grudge."

"Isn't not like you don't hold grudges."

"I don't, I forgive and forget," she declared self-righteously.

"You never forgave Vesuvius," he pointed out unkindly.

"Vesuvius killed my parents!" Alice yelled.

"And you never forgave him!" Seto roared.

"That's not the point!"

"You're right! The point is that you have two snakes for uncles! I wouldn't be surprised if your entire family is just as heinous!" He ranted angrily.

"You take that back! My cousin Hayden and my parents are nothing like those two criminals! And Maximillion isn't like that anymore either!" She argued lividly.

"Oh I'm sure! He's just a lovable puppy now, how could I forget!"  
"I never said that!"  
"Well you might as well have!"  
"I'm having a tough time as is, I don't need this from you!"  
"You're going to have to deal with it after failing so miserably!"  
"I'm doing the best I can!" Alice cried.  
"Well frankly your best is mediocre," Seto raged acidicly.

The Shadow narrowed her eyes, "Is this one of those moments when you're trying to convince yourself that you don't care for me? Because if it is could you knock it off."

Seto let out a low snarl before running his hand through his hair in exasperation, "I was hoping you wouldn't remember that."

"Yeah, well I did. So 'deal with it'," she seethed.

The pair sat in silence while they both fumed over their conversation and Alice's dangerous situation. If it hadn't been for the girl's hatred of silence, the quiet and tense atmosphere might have lasted indefinitely. The brunette got up from her seat in the middle of the bed and sat down on the edge of the mattress next to Seto.

She bit her lower lip, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you everything from the start."

"You should be," Seto grumbled, looking away as Alice grabbed his forearm.

"Would you stop being defensive for a moment, please." She begged solemnly, "I'm taking a serious hit to my pride by apologizing first."

The billionaire sighed deeply and the creased lines of his forehead smoothed, the tight set of his mouth relaxing. Though he didn't say anything in reply, Alice took his relaxed state as compliance.

"Can we just drop this for now?" She asked as she leaned her head on his shoulder.

The corners of the CEO's mouth turned up, "I suppose."

"Thank you," Alice breathed and kissed his shoulder lightly.

"Is that really all the thanks I get?" He asked with a cheeky smirk.

"Your mood swings are chaotic," she giggled, then whispered seductively. "But if you really want more… too bad!"

Seto glared at the girl as she danced away from him, grinning at her small victory. Wanting to knock her down a peg, he said, "You know, those have to be the most unflattering pajamas ever."

Alice fingered the comfy purple cotton shirt, and loose plaid sweatpants she was wearing, "Well then I don't have to worry about you molesting me."

Seto smiled wickedly and stalked toward her, "Oh I wouldn't say that."

The green eyed Shadow darted away from the blue eyed Dragon and out the bedroom door, off to find the one weapon capable of keeping Seto Kaiba at bay; his little brother.


	22. Hesitance

[_A/N: This chapter is dedicated to my beta Luna and my sister Jenna ^_^ If it wasn't for their pestering, this chapter wouldn't have been written nearly as fast! So thank them!_]

***Disclaimer*** (The only things I have to my name are this story, some pictures I drew, and a 1999 Chevy truck. "Yu-Gi-Oh!" is none of those things, therefore it's not mine kiddos :P)

**Chapter 22 – Hesitance**

"This… is weird." Alice breathed as the limo pulled out of the driveway the next morning, carrying both the Kaibas and herself. They were on their way to school, together, as in everyone was about to find out she was living with them.

"I think it's awesome! It's like you're really one of us, a Kaiba," Mokuba laughed. "Alice Kaiba. You know, Seto, if you think about you could–"

"Shut up, Mokuba." He interrupted with a glare, silencing his brother.

"I thought it was a good idea," the raven haired boy grumbled in response.

Alice giggled quietly, trying not to give Mokuba's "good idea" too much thought.

They dropped Mokuba off at school without incident, and then the limo headed toward the tall iron gates of Domino High. When the limo came to a stop neither Alice nor Seto seemed inclined to open the door. Alice was scanning the crowd for familiar faces, hoping no one would catch her with Seto, while the billionaire in question seemed preoccupied by his own thoughts. It was Alice who opened the door first, bolting out of the limo as quickly as she could. She felt herself being jerked back by her collar, and she stumbled slightly on the icy pavement.

"Where do you think you're going," Seto drawled, his hand still gripping her shirt, his knuckles brushing her neck.

"School," Alice muttered sheepishly, glancing around quickly to see if anyone was watching them; _everyone was, damn._ "You're making a scene, Kaiba."

Seto smiled widely, it was ominous and a bit demeaning. He let go of her and shoved his hands in his pockets, "I thought we agreed I was Seto now, Alice."

She flushed, turning the color of the red ribbon in her hair, "We're at school, _Kaiba_. We have to act natural. Like nothing happened. Like normal teenagers, with normal lives, and normal secrets."

He leaned toward her, hands still in his pockets, "Normal huh? So you're telling me to behave like a normal teenage boy?"

Alice was glancing around her, not really listening or paying attention to Seto's words. She spotted Téa starring at her and silently prayed the girl wouldn't tell the others. "Yeah sure," she said without thinking.

"Alright," he said with a smirk.

The small brunette turned back to him, "Alright? You're agreeing?"

"Why not?" He shrugged, "Should be interesting."

"Interesting?" She echoed with a worried frown, taking a step back from him, "I don't think I like where this is going."

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her into him, hands moving down to circle her waist as he grinned wickedly, "Oh, you will."

And then he kissed her. Long and passionate. Deep and moving. She could feel herself melting into his arms, her wrists locking behind his head in an attempt to stay on her feet. He was kissing her in front of everyone; the entire student body, some teachers, and even lingering dueling fanatics. When his lips left hers she realized that during the kiss she had leaned into him, locking herself around his frame. She also became suddenly aware that Seto's fingers were trailing across her lower back, skimming the bottom of her sweater and teasing bear skin.

Alice dropped her arms, hand flying to her mouth in embarrassment, shocked that she reacted that way in public. She stumbled a few steps away from him. Seto gave her a tantalizing smile as he began to stalk toward her again.

"Oh, no." She said uncertainly, holding her hands out to ward him away, "I don't know why you did that but it's not happening again."

"You don't know why?" He grinned mockingly, ignoring her protesting arms and gripping her hips firmly.

"No clue," she responded weakly with a shake of her head, arms trapped in between their chests.

Seto stared at her hands pressed against him, "You told me to be a normal teenage boy, and if you'll recall teenage boys not only have hormones, but very little self control."

"Hormones…" Alice muttered while biting her lip, she knew what hormones were like. Currently she was trying not to flex her fingers against the muscles that were only hinted at under his uniform. _Stupid hormones._

He raised an eyebrow suggestively before he bent his head down, lips lightly grazing her ear as he whispered, "I also like to mark my territory."

"What?" She asked with a dazed expression, as he pulled away from her and walked toward the school without another word. "Seto!" She yelled after him.

He waved a hand in acknowledgment but didn't turn around even though she'd called him by name. She would have chased after him angrily but an even angrier voice snarled, "What da hell was that!?"

Alice turned around slowly to face the greatest display of adverse reactions as her friends openly stared at her; three clearly enraged boys, one stunned girl, and surprisingly a very smug duelist. It was Joey who had spoken, or rather yelled, so it was Joey that she addressed.

"What's wrong, Joey?" She asked innocently, ignorance being her only defense.

"What's wrong? What's wrong!? Kaiba just! He was! Yug help me out here!" Joey raged.

Yugi ignored Joey and gave Alice an encouraging smile, "I'm glad you and Kaiba worked everything out."

"WHAT!? Dere isn't suppose ta be anything to work out! There's nothing ta work out, right Alice!?" Joey demanded, the veins pulsing in his neck

"Kaiba and I sort of have a complicated relationship," Alice admitted, twirling a lock of hair nervously.

"A relationship?" Duke asked, his anger giving way to curiosity and cutting across Joey's rage.

"Well to be honest most of the time I'm not sure what it is," she giggled, wrinkling her nose. "But I figure that's more his problem than mine."

"Well he is Kaiba, the guy doesn't really ever date, and all he cares about is dueling. Hell, his first words were Neutron Blast attack. I'm surprised that he's even progressed this far with you, he's always been a hit and run type of guy," Téa snorted playfully.

Alice ignored the irony of his first words and nodded with a sad smile, "So I've heard."

"Then why date him?" Tristan grumbled as the group began to make their way to class when the bell rang.

"Like I said we aren't really dating…" Alice started to say with a grimace.

"Then what would you call it? You got out of the limo with him," Téa said with a sly smile.

_Traitor,_ Alice thought as once again shocked expressions crossed her friend's faces. She was getting backed into a metaphorical corner and it was making her nervous. With pursed lips she asked, "Would you believe that we're cousins?"

Duke coughed a laugh, "Not with the way he kissed you."

"Oh right, heh." She grinned sheepishly. They were almost to the classroom, if she could make it there maybe Mr. Hayashi could save her from their questions just long enough for her to think up answers.

"So what do you two have?" Tristan pressed earnestly.

Alice fumbled, "I guess you could call it a living arrangement."

"You're living with him!?" Joey yelled, nearly keeling over on the spot.

"Only for a little while," Alice defended. "And it's not like we're sleeping in the same… bed?" She finished hesitantly, realizing that the end of the sentence had sounded false and they all had noticed. It had been a saying meant to reassure her friends but it turned out to be an unintentional lie.

"Wow, progressing fast aren't we? You go girl," Téa teased with a wink.

Alice's face flamed in response, "That's not what I meant."

"It better not have been," Joey seethed.

"Oh what are you going to do Wheeler, it's not like she's actually your sister," Duke scoffed at the blonde duelist.

They were mere feet away from the door and Alice began to image that maybe she would make into class without having to really think about the "her and Seto" thing. She had her foot in the doorway, she could see her desk, but then Joey went and ruined it.

"Dat doesn't matter! The point is, why Kaiba, Alice?" He demanded, pouting just slightly, as if she were punishing him.

Alice had every intention of blurting out a random nonsensical lie, but as she opened her mouth she locked eyes with the sharp blue irises of her housemate. It was a good question, one she'd never really given much thought to. And as she looked into the eyes of her – dare she say, lover – she found herself blurting the truth with a shake of her head and an amused smile, "I wish I knew."

Before anyone could respond Mr. Hayashi flounced into the room and began teaching almost instantly. It was a relief, to say the least, but Alice could still hear the other students whispering about what had happened in front of the school. It made her unbearably uncomfortable to be the subject of their loud gossip, and it didn't help that Seto was sitting to her right.

For the most part Seto was ignoring everyone in the class, studiously taking notes that he most likely didn't need. He was so calm, even though by that time the entire school was talking about them… then again he had done it on purpose. Alice found herself wishing that he would look over at her just so she could inform him on how royally screwed he would be when they got home.

_Home? Is that really what the Kaiba Mansion is now?_ The brunette thought as she absently chewed on her lip, eyes still trained on Seto.

He must have become aware of her staring because the left side of his mouth quirked up into an amused smile. However, the duelist kept taking notes with the smile on his lips, not even bothering to glance at the girl he knew was watching him intently. This caused three things to happen almost simultaneously in their class. First, the gossip came to a shocking halt, because Seto Kaiba was _smiling_. Second, the feisty brunette grumbled angrily under her breath, because Seto Kaiba was smiling at _her_. And thirdly, the gossip intensified to the point where Mr. Hayashi had to stop his lecture to get them to quiet down, because Seto Kaiba was smiling at her and it confirmed that there was something going on.

If it wasn't for the text message that vibrated in Alice's skirt pocket, she might have glared holes into Seto's stupidly luscious brown hair all day. She was just planning to see who it was from and then leave the message for after school, but since she didn't recognize the number she let her curiosity rule her as she opened her phone and read:

To: Alice Porter

From: 7386-52422

Stop staring. You're making everyone talk.

~S. Kaiba

Alice's jaw hit her desk. Her eyes flashed back to the arrogant CEO, but he still appeared to be taking notes diligently. Grumbling incoherently under her breath she typed her response out quickly and sent it.

To: 7386-52422

From: 2547-67837

YOU'RE the reason they're talking! It's all

your fault :[ And HOW did you get my

cell number!?

~A. Porter

The enraged brunette scanned the desk to her right, looking for the telltale flash his phone would give off when her message was received. She saw it just before Seto's hand smoothly moved to cover the sleek black screen of his smart phone. He chuckled almost silently before typing a quick reply, still not bothering to glance her way. The phone in her hand buzzed and she flipped it open.

To: Alice Porter

From: 7386-52422

I have my sources.

~S. Kaiba

The curtness of his reply made her roll her eyes, that was so like Seto. She typed a short reply as well and smirked to herself.

To: 7386-52422

From: 2547-67837

Mokie? ;)

~A. Porter

The billionaire CEO snorted shortly before sending a more lengthy response.

To: Alice Porter

From: 7386-52422

I own a corporation, and my brother is the  
best source you can up with? Pathetic.

~S. Kaiba

Alice raised her eyebrows at the arrogance of the message and decided to fight back with the same tactic.

To: 7386-52422

From: 2547-67837

Pl-ease! You can't fool me, I know everything. :D

~A. Porter

Before she thought possible, her phone was vibrating, announcing his reply.

To: Alice Porter

From: 7386-52422

Conceited much?

~S. Kaiba

She smiled knowingly and readied her next comeback.

To: 7386-52422

From: 2547-67837

Says the guy who's name is his phone number :P

~A. Porter

It felt like a very good point, until she read Seto's reply and felt like facepalming.

To: Alice Porter

From: 7386-52422

You did the same thing, you have no room  
to talk.

~S. Kaiba

She wrinkled her nose, having forgotten that fact herself. For the satisfaction of the situation she went and added him into her phone under a different name before continuing.

To: Arrogant Jerk

From: 2547-67837

Oh shut it, we all know you love me! 3

~A. Porter

His reply came a few seconds later than usual.

To: Alice Porter

From: Arrogant Jerk

That's debatable.

~S. Kaiba

Alice's eyes widened and they darted to Seto, but then quickly away. _What the hell does that mean!?_ She thought and wanted to text it, but she couldn't seem to make her fingers hit the letters. She simply stared at the text wondering how in the name of Obelisk she was supposed to reply to that, when the option to reply was taken from her.

To: Alice Porter

From: Arrogant Jerk

Wow, speechless. That's an improvement.

~S. Kaiba

The fuming brunette shot a nasty glare in his direction but the buzzing of her phone had her eyes gluing themselves back to the screen.

To: Alice Porter

From: Arrogant Jerk

You know, you're going to drool everywhere  
if you keep staring.

~S. Kaiba

Alice gritted her teeth, trying to bottle the sudden anger that took hold of her. The lid on the bottle slipped off as she got the newest text.

To: Alice Porter

From: Arrogant Jerk

I'm starting to think that you're addicted to me.

I kind of like that. You can keep staring, doll.

~S. Kaiba

Face flushed bright pink, Alice set her phone to silent before slipping it back into her skirt pocket and staring at the chalkboard defiantly. She didn't think she could handle anymore of Seto's teasing texts without either punching him, or kissing him in the middle of class. The confident teen next to her chuckled smugly and muttered, "Coward."

All Alice could do was hope that the bell for lunch rang soon. But when it did she had mixed feelings about it. She didn't know if she should go yell at Seto for his actions this morning and texts, or just hang out with her friends and save it for later. Seto made the decision for her when he got out of his desk quickly and headed for the door without a backward glance. Alice rolled her eyes, sometimes she hated him.

On their way outside toward their usual table, a very angry Mikaila slammed her shoulder into Alice's. "Watch it slut," she growled. "Wouldn't want Kaiba to have to come and save you again."

"Ignore her," Téa said kindly, placing her hand on Alice's elbow and guiding her toward the table. "She's only jealous because no one even likes her." The sad part was, Téa was probably right.

When they got to their table every last person glanced at Seto, sitting against his tree nonchalantly, before taking a seat at their normal spot. Conversation was forced, mostly due to the fact that Alice was refusing to talk about this morning or her relationship with the CEO. She didn't want to give Seto the satisfaction of her stumbled replies, Joey and Tristan would just have to deal with it. Eventually the boys started their own conversation, contining their curiosity. Their constant pestering had been close to becoming annoying, so Alice was glad they stopped even if she would have never answered them. Yugi however was another story.

"Why aren't you sitting with Kaiba?"

The question brought Alice up short, "I uhh, well I'm sort of annoyed with him for what happened this morning."

Yugi nodded in understanding, "I bet you were pretty shocked when he did that, I know we were."

Alice knew he was working his way up to something, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out what. Sure, she could just ignore him, but after how kind Yugi always was to her she couldn't bring herself to do anything other than respond.

"To say the least, it was completely out of character," she grumbled, silently wishing he'd go back to being brooding, obnoxious, and arrogant instead of sexy, obnoxious, and arrogant.

Yugi smiled at her warmly, as if knowing that she was angry for the wrong reason, and whispered to her, "Why don't you invite him over here?"

Alice glanced at Seto, who was typing furiously on his laptop with his brows knitted in concentration, and then at Joey who was gesturing wildly about something to Duke. "I don't think that'd be the best idea."

"Neither do I," he muttered, his smile widening. "But they're going to have to get over it eventually."

Just then Seto looked up from his laptop, valiant cobalt flashing murderously as his eyes held Alice's. He raised his hand from his laptop and crooked a finger at her, motioning for her to join him. His eyes returned to the laptop, still glaring and not bothering to see if she was going to oblige.

"Eventually," Alice sighed as she stood, "But not today."

Yugi gave her one last encouraging smile before he began running interference, ensuring that no one noticed Alice leaving the table.

When she reached Seto she stood beside him expectantly, hands clasped in front of her innocently. "Yes?"

"Sit." He without glancing up.

Alice scowled, "Is that anyway to talk to the girl you molested this morning?"

A small smile graced his lips but it didn't quite reach his eyes, "Sit, now."

"Oh yeah, much better." She scoffed as she folded herself next to him, leaning back against the tree and smoothing out her skirt. "So what is it that's so important?"

Seto looked calmer, but she wasn't fooled, she knew the CEO was seconds away from blowing a fuse. He handed her the laptop he'd been glaring at and instructed her in clipped tones, "Read this. I'd like your opinion on it."

Taking the computer, Alice scanned the screen quickly and found that two different windows were pulled up simultaneously. One was an operating systems check of all Kaiba Corp. programs, satellites, and maintenance history. Everything on that check was in the green, all areas of search running at one hundred percent efficiency. The maintenance history indicated that over the past three months there had been no adverse incidents regarding fire walls, power fluctuations, or potential viruses. The scan looked like good news.

The other window was a crosscheck for corresponding data on combat damage fluctuations and known duels in the area. Alice didn't need to look at the results very long to know what they spelled out, she'd assumed as much in the beginning.

"What do you want me to say?" She asked as she handed back the computer.

"Let's start with the topic that doesn't revolve entirely around you," Seto drawled evenly, seemingly having his anger under control. "Do you see anything wrong with the first window?"

"No. It says that Kaiba Corporation is running on all cylinders and has been for a while. Did you pull this up just to brag?" Alice teased, trying to get the billionaire in a better mood before the topic changed to her.

"This is nothing to brag about, look again," he admitted grudgingly.

Perplexed, Alice studied the systems check again. She couldn't think of why he wouldn't want to brag about this. According to the scan, Kaiba Corp. was perfect and had been for three months. There had been no problems, no faults, and everything was running at one hundred percent efficiency. She just didn't understand what…

"Oh?" Alice exclaimed, pulling the screen closer to her face.

"Well?" Seto prompted impatiently.

"The efficiency scan, I'm not an expert on corporations but I am pretty good with numbers, and it's essentially impossible to ever be running at one hundred percent on anything." She declared hesitantly.

"You're right," he responded with a congratulatory smirk. "I may be flawless, but there isn't any way to make a system read at one hundred percent. Unless–"

"Unless it's a false scan," Alice cut in happily, but at the look on Seto's face she pursed her lips. "Sorry, that's not a good thing."

"No, it isn't. It means that someone has gone into my system and screwed around with it. I wasn't sure at first so I thought I'd have someone else take a look and see if they came to the same conclusions. Do you see anything else?" He asked anxiously.

It took her a moment but eventually she said, "The status report says that you haven't had any power fluctuations, fire walls breached, or potential viruses in the system for three months. But you and I got stuck in an elevator because of power fluctuations, and if the power's down that means that there aren't any fire walls at all, right?"

"Unfortunately you're correct, the entire scan is crap." Seto grumbled, "I've run it four times and it keeps giving me the same tampered results. Someone broke into my system, and I'd be willing to bet all the Kaiba fortune that it happened when the power went out."

"It was probably one of the Shadows, but I'm not sure," Alice began, "No one has bragged about hacking into Kaiba Corp. but it does sound like methods we've used before."

"I'll keep that in mind. Now on to the other window." He stated frankly, staring at her intently, "Spill it."

The small brunette lowered her head, not in submission but so that her hair fell in between them, a dark curtain so that he couldn't see her expression as she explained about the combat damage.

"It's my duel disk that's been causing all the fuss. Simply by having the card in my deck, even if I've never played it, it increases the damage dealt in duels around the immediate area."

"A card can't do that," he argued.

"Aeris can," she muttered softly back.

Seto's ears perked up, "So there is an Aeris after all."

Alice nodded, "I said there was, it was just a little hard to explain. Aeris is her name, the card's name."

Seto narrowed his eyes, "I've never heard of 'her'."

"You wouldn't have. There are three powerful people who've made certain of that; Maximillion, Vesuvius, and myself. All for different reasons of course," she added.

"If Vesuvius wants this card so badly why don't you just give it to him? Or is it one of those cards that ensures world domination," he laughed coldly, not believing a word she was saying. This was like Egypt all over again.

"It's not a card for world domination, but for global destruction." She said sadly.

Humoring her, he asked, "Why not just destroy the card then?"

"There is too much evidence that the card exists. Even if I do burn it, the heart of the card would still be around and eventually it would find a new location and host. This whole incident would just repeat itself," she lamented.

Seto scowled at her and ran a hand through his hair, "Assuming I believe you, how would we get rid of the card and its chaotic influence permanently?"

"You have to destroy the card, the tablet, and the origin of the creature all at the same time, assuming the mythology is correct," she admitted sheepishly, refusing to look at him.

Seto placed his hand on her cheek and turned her toward him, "And how did you come by this information?"

Alice's face flushed slightly, "The card told me."

He let out a bark of unamused laughter, "This just keeps getting stranger and stranger."

"You don't know the half of it," she groaned out on a sigh.

"Oh I don't? Then please, enlighten me." Seto mocked, moving his hand to her shoulder.

Alice glanced down at her phone. There were only a few minutes of lunch remaining, if she told him the worst of it now he wouldn't have a chance to respond. But maybe that was a good thing? If he couldn't respond he would spend the rest of class calming down, and maybe it wouldn't be that big of a deal… maybe.

She took a deep breath and blurted out the last of what she had uncovered during the meeting at the headquarters. "Well you see, and don't get angry, but I left out a small portion of what the Shadows are planning. In order to get information from you, Yugi, and Joey they've decided that they need to take hostages in order to get you to talk. They're planning on abducting Joey, Téa, and myself. I'm not sure the day though… just that it'll be soon. Heh." She took a deep breath, "Oh and Jasper is coming to take Mokuba tomorrow morning when he comes to give him his physical check up, so I suggest not opening the door."

Seto stared at her blankly, the hand on her shoulder like a vise. He didn't move, he didn't even seem to breathe as Alice hesitantly removed his hand from her. It was startling how still he sat and how calm his sapphire blue eyes were.

"Umm, Seto?" She muttered with an unsure smile, "You aren't mad… are you?"

The bell rang announcing the end of lunch and without a word spoken Seto closed his laptop and rose to his feet, pausing for a moment so Alice could do the same. Once they were both standing he began to walk toward the school, his steps measured and his pace slow. The other students were already in the classroom when the pair reentered the school; it seemed almost like Seto was lingering back.

As they reached the door Alice turned to go in until she noticed that Seto continued walking down the hall past their classroom. She hurried to his side, "Where are you going, Seto?"

He paused in his walk, as if only just registering her presence next to him. His face was calm and his posture relaxed as he said tranquilly, "I have some urgent business to take care of."

His tone and clarity confused Alice so thoroughly that she barely managed to say, "Oh, alright," before he was walking serenely for the school's front doors. No one stopped him, no one demanded that he return to class, because everyone knew that Seto Kaiba did what he wanted. It was unsettling how calm he was behaving, but as the front doors swung shut behind him, Alice realized that his reaction could be described as scary calm, and she suppressed a shudder.

"Where's Kaiba?" Yugi stage whispered as Mr. Hayashi resumed lessons.

Alice twirled her pencil, before jotting a few notes down, debating how she should reply. "Not sure. I think I may have upset him."

The boy with multicolored hair frowned slightly, "Is everything alright?"

It was an honest question; was everything alright? She bit her lower lip before mumbling, "Nothing's alright, but it will be."

And something in her tone must have rung with a certain finality, because Yugi dropped the subject with a silent sigh.

_~~~DFAD~~~ _

After school Alice didn't know what she expected. Maybe to see her motorcycle sitting on the sidewalk, a note attached saying to leave town. Maybe Seto himself leaning against the fence with hands in his pockets, telling her he was there to escort her to the police or an insane asylum. But she got neither of those things. Instead she got Roland standing outside the Kaiba limousine, as if everything were normal.

"Miss Porter, I was instructed to drive you back to the mansion." Seto's most loyal henchman stated as he held open the door to the limo.

"Well, I guess I'll see you guys later." Alice said with forced cheer, glancing over her shoulder at Yugi and Joey while shifting her backpack higher up on her shoulder.

There was silence for half a beat before Joey responded, "I'm not okay with dis, but since I don't have a choice... just be careful."

"I'll be…" _fine,_ is what she wanted to say, but the words wouldn't leave her mouth. Alice sighed, "I'll do my best. Besides, Seto's not a demon or anything."

Yugi placed a hand on his best friend's shoulder, "We know that. It's just a gut feeling, but we're almost sure that something bad is going to go down soon and Kaiba might be a part of it."

Stunned, Alice paused with one foot in the limo. She'd forgotten about her warning to Yugi, forgotten that Seto was not the only one in immediate danger. Sure, she hadn't had time to warn Joey, but she'd known the message would get to him through the grapevine. The warning had been sent nearly two weeks ago, but it seemed that even they realized that the real issue was just now surfacing.

"You watch each other's backs too," she said softly, perplexing both boys. It wasn't until she was in the limo that she decided now was as good a time to start telling the truth as any. "Roland, hold on a minute. I need to tell them something, and as soon as I finish I'm going to need you to drive off… no matter what they do."

"Understood ma'am," he responded statically without a second thought.

Alice rolled down the window and called to the two duelists that had started to turn away and walk home. They looked back at her, the confused looks on their faces still present from her earlier words. "Stay inside today and call Téa, tell her to do the same."

Yugi took half a step back toward the limo, his eyes wide, "What do you know, Alice?"

"I know," she paused, exhaling a long breath. "I know that things in Shadows have a way of finding themselves in the light. And I know that I'm sorry."

She rolled up the window, ignoring their shouts and frantic faces, a grimace set on her lips. And just as he promised Roland stepped on the gas and they were pulling away from the school before either boy could reach them.

_**"They needed to know how close danger really is,"**_ Aeris remarked in what sounded to be a reassuring tone.

_I know… but I can't help but think that nothing will ever be the same again, _Alice thought back, as not to alarm Roland.

_**"It never will be."**_ The Egyptian lamented before her consciousness faded into the background and Alice was left alone. _Alone?_

Startled, Alice leaned forward in her seat toward the privacy glass that was currently down, "Roland?"

"Yes Miss?" He asked, glancing in the rearview mirror.

"Where's Mokuba? Shouldn't we be getting him from school?" The brunette asked, hesitantly awaiting the reply.

"Mister Kaiba picked him up from school around lunch. He's already at the mansion," the chauffeur said statically.

"Why? Is something going on?" Alice asked as panic began seeping into her veins.

Roland glanced back at her briefly, "Not that I'm aware of. Mister Kaiba just insisted that he speak with his brother, and afterward Mister Mokuba was to be taken home."

"I see, and do you know where Seto went afterward?" She questioned cautiously.

"He didn't inform me of his destination. Would you like me to contact him?" He asked kindly.

"No need, I'm sure everything is… fine." Alice mumbled uncertainly as the limo pulled into the driveway and she spotted a boy with long black hair hurrying her way. Her feet had barely hit the ground before Mokuba launched himself at her, wrapping his arms around her waist and bending his neck so he could bury his head in her hair.

"I'm so glad you're alright, Ali! Seto said I should be patient and wait for you, but after all he told me I was just sooooo worried!" The raven haired boy gushed, his voice breaking slightly as he began to pull her frantically toward the house.

"What?" Alice asked exasperated as the front door swung shut behind them, but Mokuba kept stringing her along through the house, refusing to face her. "What were you worrying about? What did Seto tell you?"

Mokuba didn't respond, but she thought she could feel his hand trembling around hers. He pushed open the door to Seto's room and ushered the confused girl in, closing it quickly and then leaning back against it heavily. It was then that Alice got a good look at him and noticed the tears pooling in his vibrant purple eyes, his nose red and his cheeks flushed.

"Mokie," she croaked, dropping her backpack to the ground and striding across the room.

She wrapped the sobbing boy in her arms and sank to the floor with him when his knees gave out. He curled into her lap like a small child, clutching at her arms desperately as he cried into her shoulder. "It's not fair, Ali! Why us? Whhy does it always have to be us?"

Alice felt her eyes water as she stroked his rumpled hair, "Shhh, it's alright. It's okay. I know."

Mokuba coughed violently, but his crying continued on, and Alice's breaking heart continued to shatter with every tear. This wasn't the way a child cried, these were the sobs of an old man who's had his entire world destroyed. She hugged him to her, wishing it away, whatever caused him this much pain. This teenage boy she had always thought as small seemed to shrivel under the weight of his grief. But really, they were the same height, they were worried about the same people, and they were both helpless.

He lifted his head from her shoulder and wiped his sleeve across his face, as if trying to scrub away the tears and sorrow. "Damn, I was so sure I could hold it in until we talked."

Suddenly he wasn't a child in her eyes anymore, he wasn't a cute, cheerful little boy; he was a distraught teenager… her equal. She blinked back the tears that threatened to leak from her own eyes and patted his back, saying softly, "What do we need to talk about?"

Mokuba shifted out of her lap, his face streaked with tear trails and his watery amethyst eyes slightly puffy. He gave her a sad smile and croaked, "I know everything. Seto told me about the Shadows, he told me about what you're doing for us… what you had to do for them. We're in so much danger. _You're_ in so much danger, Alice."

Alice, not Ali, not even a joking Miss Porter. Things had gone from bad to worse, from worse to oh crap, and the change has caused Mokuba to grow up fast, faster than Alice would have liked.

"I know, Mokuba. But I'm being careful, and I have allies now." She soothed, wiping a stray tear from his cheek, "And we're going to win. You don't have to worry about me, just keep yourself safe."

He nodded mutely, before biting his lip nervously, "I was really hurt at first when I found out you were working for the volcano guy. I thought maybe you hadn't really cared about me or Seto. But then I remembered how you saved me from those jerks in the park before you even knew who I was. I remembered how you let me paint your game room, even though I did a horrible job. You're a good person, Alice. And I'm sorry I forgot that, even for a moment."

"It's no big deal, sometimes I get so mad at myself I forget I'm a good person too." Alice smiled calmly, "Come on Mokie, let's go get some food. I'm sure you're hungry."

Before the teen responded, Alice went to her bag and started rifling around for something to change into. The blue long sleeved shirt Seto had leant her a few days ago caught her eye and she found herself drawing it out.

Alice looked up with the shirt in hand and saw the raven haired teen's expression brighten, and for the first time in hours Alice truly believed everything would be alright in the end. "Of course I am. I was thinking of waiting for Seto to get home before we ate, but if you're hungry too I say we have a feast!"

"Where did he go?" She asked as they left Seto's room and headed for the kitchen, shirt still balled in Alice's left hand. It only just occurred to her that Roland hadn't known his whereabouts and Mokuba hadn't mentioned it either.

"He went to go pay Jasper at the hospital. I don't know why he didn't just wait until–"

"He did what!?" Alice paled, grasping Mokuba's forearm and pulling him to a stop.

"What's wrong? Oww! Ali? Ali, where are you going!?" Mokuba yelled after her as she sprinted down the hallway, trying to escape.

She had to find a quiet place, somewhere to think, somewhere she could be alone and work out this mess. It was one thing for Mokuba to break down in front of her, it was another for her to show him how insecure their situation really was. When she was sure she had lost him, Alice yanked open the nearest door and closed herself inside the dark room.

It was an office, by the looks of the room it was Seto's personal home office. There were bookshelves lining the sides and a large oak desk dominating the back of the room. A single window was behind the desk, the only light source in the room. She didn't take time to admire the matching oak floors, the beautifully painted walls, or the mountains of papers on the desk; she just walked on shaky legs to the desk and sunk down behind it, hiding.

She shouldn't panic, it was possible that Mokuba had misheard and everything was really fine. Pulling her cell phone out of her skirt pocket – ignoring the five missed calls from Yugi, the nine from Joey, and the two text messages – Alice found Seto's number and hit the call button. It rang. And rang. And rang. But no one picked up. She hung up and dialed again, desperate to know that he was safe, that he wasn't stupid enough to walk into the enemy's lair. After four tries and no success she felt her stomach drop into her feet. They had him, the Shadows had Seto.

Swallowing hard, Alice twisted the forgotten blue shirt in her lap, and dialed Yugi's number, praying that the five missed calls didn't have the lines "Help, the Shadows grabbed me" in them. He picked up on the third ring.

"Alice! Thanks for returning my call, are you–" Yugi began in a hurried tone.

"Do you know where Seto is? I haven't heard from him and he isn't answering his phone." Alice cut in, her voice frantic.

Yugi stuttered, "Uhh, no no. I haven't heard from him. Is something wrong? Alice, how did you know that warning you told me after school?"

"I don't have time to explain now, just please, please for my sanity stay inside." She sighed out, relieved that at least Yugi was safe, "I'll explain everything later, promise."

"Alright," he said hesitantly. "I trust you, Alice. Be careful."

She didn't know how many times just today she'd heard those words, but she nodded even though he couldn't see her, "Right. Bye."

Alice dialed the next number on autopilot, fisting her hands in Seto's shirt and praying that Téa would answer too. But she didn't. Her phone just kept ringing like Seto's had. No matter how many times she called her cheery friend the dancer didn't pick up. Of course she wouldn't because if the Shadows were making their moves, and Yugi was fine, that meant that they had Téa.

She couldn't cry, not yet, she had at least one more call to make. Dialing Joey's number she waited with a hollow feeling in her stomach… but he didn't answer either. Alice was ready to chunk her phone across the room in frustration, but she recalled the two text messages and hurried to pull them up. Unfortunately, they weren't from Seto, Téa, or Joey but the messages were ones she needed to hear.

To: Alice Porter

From: 5233-64652

X, Vesuvius' plans are coming together. He's

still not here, something about getting  
another piece of the tablet. We have hostages,

you need to get here ASAP.

~ Claves

Alice grimaced and then looked down to the second message her higher up had sent her.

To: Alice Porter

From: 5233-64652

Alice, seriously. Get here NOW!

~Claves

Well that explained why some of her friends weren't answering her calls, but she still couldn't believe that Seto had been dumb enough to just walk into the hospital, basically handing himself over to Vesuvius. It was stupid, and well, no. It was just stupid.

Numbly she called Yugi back and again he answered right away, "Alice?"

"Yeah, it's me again. Listen, I have a lot of stuff to explain, I know, but I can't manage it right now."

"I understand," Yugi mumbled, though he sounded cautious. "What's up then?"

"I'm almost certain that they have Seto, Téa, and Joey," Alice began, but then paused as she realized he wouldn't know who "they" were.

"Umm, who?" Yugi asked as Alice collected her thoughts.

"It's complicated, and a long story. I'm going to go get them back, and then we'll talk, can you meet me somewhere?" She asked, massaging her temples so that prickling in her eyes would stop.

"Of course, where?" He responded without hesitation.

"3491 Pleasant Sage Road, the code for the garage is my phone number and you can get into my house from there." Alice mumbled self-consciously as the prickling intensified and slow, thick tears trailed down her cheeks.

"Alright, I'll get there as soon as I can. Is there anything else I can do to help?" Yugi asked soothingly, as if somehow knowing how distressed she was, and maybe he did.

"Yeah, keep trying to call Téa and Joey, maybe I'm just overreacting. Also call Tristan and Duke. They're all involved in this now," she whispered quietly, her voice thick with tears and she knew that if she spoke any louder, it would break.

"Will do," he said just as softly. "Hang in there, Alice."

"You too," and then she hung up, letting the tears she'd been fighting for minutes escape her eyes freely.

She dropped her phone to the wood floor, daring the accursed piece of technology to brake. Pulling her knees to her chest she let her sobs rake through her, not caring if the tenants of the house found her now. She clutched Seto's old shirt, holding it close to her chest as the tears slipped down her face and dripped onto the faded blue material. Alice had always been an easy crier, it was something that she despised about herself, but that moment she felt like this was maybe the second most justified occasion; the first being her parents' funeral.

She tried to sob loudly, hoping that letting it out vocally would cause her sorrow to lesson and it would be over sooner. But her body refused, and her silent cries rocked her body as she trembled on the wood floor. Cold and alone.

The door to the office eased open with a slight whoosh and a sudden flooding of light. She wiped at her eyes frantically, favoring her sweater sleeve over Seto's shirt. She heard the soft footfalls and then the steady breathing as the intruder leaned over her. Without looking up she knew who it would be, so she put on a brave face and false smile and met her best friend's concerned eyes.

"What's up, Mokie?" Alice cringed as her voice broke, giving away her horrible lie.

The raven haired teen didn't speak as he crouched in front of the distraught brunette, extending a hesitant hand and wiping the few traitorous tears she missed off her cheek. Oh how the tables had turned. So much for wanting to be strong for him, so much for not making him worry. Alice watched as Mokuba's troubled violet eyes trailed over her crumpled form, and he stared at her with an unsure expression, not sure how to comfort the older women.

"What's wrong, Ali? What happened?" He asked softly, like he was afraid she would break.

Alice gave him a watery smile, "I messed up… and I need your help."

[_A/N: THANK YOU! I have never gotten so many emails about reviews and PM's in my LIFE! I appreciate all the support and love each and every one of you, seriously! Review lovelies, you know now how much it makes me smile ^_^_]


	23. Infiltration

[_A/N: Aroob 1081 made an AMAZING poster for this story, so check it out! There's a link on my profile for it :) Also, there's a lot of swearing and some violence in this chapter, just so you know._]

***Disclaimer*** (If "Yu-Gi-Oh!" were mine DFAD would have hit theaters a LONG time ago. But since none of you are watching it at home with a bowl of popcorn, guess what that means!)

**Chapter 23 – Infiltration**

Riding a motorcycle when the sun's down usually had a calming effect on Alice, but since she was currently speeding to headquarters to break her friends out cells and torture chambers… it didn't quite give her the whole "peace and tranquility" vibe. Panic was the main emotion driving her toward the hospital, and that panic only intensified when all of the lights in the horizon blinked out.

The only illumination in the night was the shine of her headlights, and the crescent moon that glowed defiantly in the sky. With the occurrence of the sudden power outage, Alice knew that the Shadows were finally making their move. She tried to pick up speed and hurry toward the hospital, but when one of the buildings in the distance lit up suddenly she slowed to marvel at the feat.

Either the building that was beginning to turn itself back on had extra generators, or something serious was going down there. Alice paled when she saw the logo on the building light up, illuminating the night with its blue and orange glow. Of course that building just _had_ to be Kaiba Corp. If she wasn't in such a rush, she would have swung by if only to see what could be happening there. But she was in a rush, so shook her head and twisted her right hand on the accelerator.

_~~~DFAD~~~_

When she got to the hospital she entered through the back door, wanting to avoid as much attention as possible. It was pandemonium on the normal levels of the building, doctors and nurses sprinting every which way, trying in vain to get the power back on for their patients. Like the Shadow that she was, Alice moved through the crowds of people unseen, despite the fact she was in a long and flowing black cloak. She pushed through the entrance to a supply closet and found the rickety wooden door that led to an even shoddier set of stairs. They were only meant for emergencies, but since the power was out and the elevator was not an option, Alice thought that now would be an exception.

The underground labyrinth that was the Shadow's headquarters was cold and dark. Even though the entire city – perhaps the entire continent's – power was out, there was still some faint traces of electricity running through the tunnels. Small lights at the base of the walls gave off a pale and yellow glow like theater lights every few feet, casting long shadows across the halls. Alice shuddered as she kept moving, her destination set as the central meeting room.

By the time she reached the bland room, it occurred to her that she hadn't passed one person, not one Shadow was lingering in the halls. Alice pushed open the doors to the room – doors that were normally propped open – and found the entire room empty. Grumbling slightly, she exited the way she'd come in and headed for the few living spaces that the headquarters had. She knocked on Claves' door, but received no answer.

_She texts me but doesn't tell me where to go,_ Alice thought with an inaudible sigh, trying the handle but finding it locked. She reached into her cloak to pull out her phone to get a hold of Claves, shifting the duel disk that was uncharacteristically on her left arm. That was when she heard the voices. If it wasn't for the training Vesuvius had pounded into her head for years she wouldn't have even noticed. She shifted, pressing herself against the wall and creeping to the door adjacent to Claves'. Leaning her ear against the smooth metal, Alice listened to the conversation between the room's occupants.

"I really have to pee. How much longer do you think we'll be confined?" A male voice asked in exasperation.

There was a quiet sigh in response and then another male answered, "Claves didn't specify. But it can't be too much longer, they just wanted to transport the hostages without getting all the newbies riled up."

"Freaking hostages," the first male grumbled. "I hope they have someone good. What the hell do they even–"

Alice didn't wait to hear the rest, she pulled herself away from the door and headed down the hallway that branched into the holding cells. She had wanted to get information before checking on her friends' conditions, but it looked as if Claves was right in the middle of it all. If the headquarters was really on lockdown it would be both easier, and harder, to sneak Téa, Joey, and Seto out. She had brought the only two extra cloaks she had, tied around her legs, and hoped that she could somehow "commandeer" a third. To say Alice was on edge was an understatement; the girl had actually worn an all black version of her usual white Shadow clothing because of her unease.

Her unease settled down slightly however at the sight of Claves leaning leisurely against the wall across from one of the holding cells. Unfortunately it spiked once again upon registering the look on the older woman's face.

"X, is that you?" The clover haired woman questioned, not abandoning her position outside the cell.

"Yeah. Are you gunna fill me in?" Alice responded quietly, mimicking her commander's casual posture on the wall.

"When Jasper delivered the information the Master became enraged. He was still in Duelist Kingdom at the time, but he relayed that he had succeeded in getting one of the tablet pieces from Pegasus. Apparently, the other two shards are somewhere in Domino and he's looking for them now," she explained in a level tone.

Both women stopped talking for a moment when a low and hoarse groan reverberated from behind the metal cell door. It sent chills up and down Alice's arms and she rubbed her hands along them, trying to stop them from spreading. She knew that Vesuvius kept all kinds of people locked up in the cells, which was why she usually tried to avoid the area. Suppressing the violent urge to rip the door off its hinges, Alice turned back to Claves.

"And the power outage? Was that Vesuvius too?" She muttered, her voice only wavering slightly.

Claves shook her head imperceptibly, "No, that was Jasper. Apparently, without any of our knowledge, he was told to cut the power and infiltrate Kaiba Corporation. He planted a virus in the system a few weeks ago and it was set to activate the next time the power fluctuated."

"What do they need with Kaiba Corp.? Is he just checking the database for any information on the card?" Alice questioned quietly.

"Yes, but it also serves another purpose. We all know that the card causes significant damage in a small radius during a duel because of the once human spirit that's trapped within it… but with the help of Kaiba Corp. and Industrial Illusion satellites that effect can soon be broadcast worldwide." Claves said gravely, her mouth only just frowning.

There was another pause in conversation as a sharp and angry growl sounded inside the same room as before. Whoever was in there sounded pissed and defiant. But Alice tried to ignore the sounds, focusing on one problem at a time

"I thought that may happen," she mused, her tone smooth as she channeled Aeris' calm demeanor. "But why suddenly kidnap the duelists?"

Claves sighed, shifting against the wall, "I said the Master was enraged. He demanded that something be done immediately. So we picked up the dancer girl, Téa, before she could get in her car after school. Scarlet grabbed Joey after making a false pizza delivery, and…" The normally composed woman's voice hitched, sounding like she was overwhelmed with grief.

"And what? I know Seto came here on his own," Alice began but was interrupted.

"You know!? And you just let him walk in here?" Claves hissed under her breath. Alice had been wrong. Claves was not grieving, she was simmering in her anger, trying in vain to hold it in.

"I didn't let him. I didn't even know he was going to come here until it was too late," the brunette muttered in a hushed voice.

Lavender eyes rolled in her direction. "Well it's no use now I suppose. He's in that room," she said, nodding to the door in front of them, "With Scarlet."

"Scarlet! Why Scarlet?" Alice demanded as she started for the door. She remembered the groan of pain and sharp growl that had echoed through the metal separating them and felt like gagging.

Claves gripped her arm tightly before Alice could grasp the handle into the room, "Because we all know she's the best at getting information. She was suppose to start with Joey, but she insisted that Seto be first. We couldn't stop her. The only people allowed to walk around freely now are those specially assigned to this mission. You really shouldn't go in there."

Taking a few calming breaths, the small Shadow shook her head, "I need to make sure he's not… I just need to know."

The green haired woman released her arm, "I get that, so we'll both go in. But when I tell you to leave you _have_ to. I sedated him earlier so he wouldn't feel as much of the pain… unfortunately it also made him weaker. It should wear off soon, and then you can escape. He'll be alright. I need you to understand that before you go swaggering in there and blow your cover."

"Understood," Alice croaked before Claves pushed the door open.

It took every ounce of restraint she and Aeris possessed to stop her body from moving to strangle Scarlet. The amazon beauty was facing Seto, her hand seeming to rest harmlessly against his bare chest. But when she turned, the glint of a silver instrument shined in her hand. She raked the tool, the scalpel, across his lower left side one final time before turning fully to face the other two women. "I thought I told you not to interrupt my alone time with Seto."

Alice seethed under her hood. Rage flowing through her veins and she was sure that if it wasn't for Claves at her side and Aeris' very persistent thoughts in her head, she would have murdered Scarlet in that moment. It didn't matter that Seto wasn't feeling all of the pain; she still wanted to jump across the room and claw out the red eyes of the monster torturing him. But she held her ground, not moving even as she watched the blood trickle down Seto's bare chest and soak into his black pants.

His head was lolled forward, hair falling over his eyes and casting dark shadows over his face, hiding his expression. The chains wrapped around his wrists, legs, and neck had already started to rub the skin in the areas raw. His naked chest and arms were a canvas of bloody cuts and deep wounds that varied in sizes. Even his beautiful and previously flawless face was marred with two red lines. His pants had small portions where the material had been ripped away, providing more skin where more cuts were made to bleed. Alice glanced around the room, looking for his discarded shirt but it was nowhere in sight. Her eyes flickered back to Seto and she noticed his black and bloody socks. They had taken his shoes and shirt, possibly even his white trench coat, and yet none of these things were still in the room. Her breath caught in her throat when Seto raised his head, eyes blazing coldly like blue ice.

"Is it time for my sponge bath now?" He chuckled humorlessly.

Claves ignored his comment, her impassive face on as she looked at Scarlet and said, "The Master insisted that we have a meeting in a few minutes without him. You'll have to step outside and guard the door while I go to collect the keys so we can lock up our guests. Once I lock his door you can make your way to the central meeting room and wait for the others to arrive."

"Fine," the black haired woman sighed with a scowl. Her face lit up suddenly, "Hey, princess. Nice of you to join us, look what I did for you. I know, sweet of me right. Do you want your turn?"

Alice clenched her jaw, not trusting herself to reply. Seto's eyes shifted to her and she shuddered when the hatred in his gaze didn't lessen. She was grateful when Claves responded for her.

"Scar, we don't have time for this. Besides, none of us have experience in your kind of persuasion," she said with a half amused smile.

"I know that, just thought I'd be nice and offer." Scarlet said with a haughty roll of her eyes before she turned back to Seto. "I have to go now, but don't you worry I'll be back. But how about I give you a parting gift."

Scarlet reached out and gripped Seto's right hand, pulling the chain on his wrist to the limit. The sadistic woman twirled the scalpel in her fingers before placing the blade against the skin on the back of his hand and digging it in. Seto let out a menacing hiss and tried to jerk his arm back, but Scarlet's red manicured hands were like a second set of chains. She dragged the scalpel diagonally across his skin, creating the deepest wound yet on his body. Picking up the scalpel, she crossed the first cut with an equally deep swipe. Alice looked at the bloody X that marred Seto's once flawless skin and felt her stomach churn. With a smile, Scarlet dropped the scalpel onto the solitary table in the room and made her way toward the other two Shadows.

"There you go, _Red._" The tall woman sneered viciously, "I marked your prey for you since you don't seem to have the guts for it."

"Stop it, Scarlet." Claves groaned, as if Scarlet were doing her usual mockery, "We need to get the meeting going as soon as we can."

"Right, fine. See you later, hot stuff." Scarlet called over her shoulder as the three women left the room.

Scarlet took up the position against the wall where Claves had been earlier as Alice and her Shadow began walking down the hall silently. When they were a fair distance away from Scarlet, Claves spoke up.

"The keys are in Vesuvius' office. I figure we'd get them and lock Seto's door first while sending Scar to the meeting room. Then we'll head to gather the others. Once all the doors are locked and all the Shadows are heading for the meeting room I'll slip you the keys. I'll only be able to distract them for maybe ten minutes before they notice you aren't there," she whispered in a hushed tone.

Alice nodded quietly as they approached Vesuvius' office. They grabbed the keys and made their way back to Scarlet. The red eyed woman didn't say anything as they locked the door to Seto's cell, she simply turned and started toward the meeting room in the direction they had just come from.

"Téa's cell is next, pay attention to where it is." Claves muttered under her breath.

Alice caught sight of Lucas leaning leisurely against the wall up ahead, guarding the cell of another of her friends. "What's up?" He asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Emergency meeting," Claves rattled off, sounding annoyed. "Is Chandra inside with the girl?"

Lucas nodded, "She's just asking her a few questions, she should be out in about ten minutes."

_Questioning? Does that mean that Chandra's torturing her!? _Alice thought in a panic. She was determined to get into the room and stop the Shadow if that was the case, but Claves beat her to the punch.

"Not good enough," she said shaking her head. "This meeting needs to start now, go in and get her."

The blue eyed Shadow bowed his head and then walked into the cell, closing the door behind him. A few moments later he walked out with a small cloaked figure, her hood still hiding her face.

"Luke said that we need to have a meeting? But what about Gardner?"

"It's not a problem. I'm going to lock the door and then put the key in the Master's office. Go ahead with Luke, and we'll catch up. Scarlet should already be in the room waiting," Claves added as she slid the large iron key into the door and the lock clicked.

Without another word the two blonde Shadows took off down the hall, making their way to join Scarlet. Alice and Claves continued walking in the opposite direction, encountering no one until they came across Damien and Nigel stationed outside what must have been Joey's cell.

"Get to the meeting room, we have things to discuss," Claves said as she locked the door, interrupting their conversation.

Both men grunted and turned to leave but stopped in their tracks at the sight of Hayden walking down the hall toward them.

"Good evening, ladies. Nigel. Damien. What's going on? Why are you abandoning your posts?" The white haired boy asked with a half smile.

Claves didn't return the smile as she said in a clipped tone, "We're having a meeting. Head to the usual room."

The boy's heterochromia eyes widened, "Oh. I see. Continue then," he said to the men and they walked past him, nodding their heads as they went.

Claves slipped her palm over Alice's and passed on the keys discreetly, saying to Hayden, "That means you too."

He smiled softly in response, "Yes ma'am." Before turning to go, he placed his hand on Alice's shoulder and muttered a quiet, "Good luck."

Alice placed her soft hand over Hayden's calloused one, "You too. When all hell breaks loose, bring the troops to my house. I'll text you the address."

He nodded and then Alice watched as two of the bravest people she knew headed to distract some of the most menacing people in history. Before she slid the key back into the door she sent Hayden the text, and then stepped into the room.

Joey's cell was smaller than Seto's, and instead of having him chained to the back wall he was tied to a chair. His head was hanging low and Alice wondered if he had passed out. He didn't appear to have any wounds, most likely because the person who was meant to be torturing him had been occupied with someone else. She approached him cautiously but the blonde duelist's head still shot up, his eyes narrowed.

"It's alright Joey, I'm here to help." Alice said as she slid down her hood and held her hands up in the universal sign of harmlessness.

"Alice?" He asked his eyes widening, "So dis is how you knew we were in danger?"

"Yeah… I wasn't sure it was going to happen today, I just knew it would happen soon." She sighed as she knelt behind Joey and began untying the ropes.

"Well thanks for da warning anyway, and fer getting me outta here," he said as he moved his arms in circles. "Did they get anybody else?"

Alice nodded as they headed for the door, "Seto and Téa. I figure it'll be easiest escaping without notice if we leave in pairs."

Joey reached out and grabbed her arm before she could open the door, "You're not makin' me go with rich boy, are ya?"

The brunette rolled her eyes at her prejudice friend, "No, Joey. You're going to help get Téa out. Here… put this on."

The tall duelist eyed the cloak she handed him, "No offense, Alice. But there's no way this thing is gunna fit me."

"It doesn't have to look amazing, it just has to cover your face! Just put it on and crouch or something," she huffed. Yes, she knew she wasn't exactly tall, but that fact had slipped her mind when she'd grabbed her extra cloaks. Now that she thought about it, the cloak probably wouldn't even fit properly for Téa, even though the girl was only an inch or so taller than her.

Joey grumbled but slipped the small cloak over his shoulders and brought the hood up, Alice doing the same. The now unrecognizable pair left the room, Alice locking the door behind them, hoping that perhaps it would buy them a few extra minutes later. The hunched boy beside her tried to ask questions as they walked but Alice shushed him, worried that even though headquarters was on lockdown someone might still be roaming the halls.

When they got to Téa's cell Alice slipped the key into the door and then ushered Joey into the room. She had been praying that Téa wouldn't be too severely injured, that Chandra wasn't as sadistic as her idol. So when her eyes focused on Téa sitting with her legs crossed on the floor unharmed, Alice silently thanked Ra for watching over the girl.

"I'm not going to tell you anything. Not because I don't want to, but because I _don't know_ anything," the dancer sighed, massaging her temples. "You've got the wrong girl."

"No, I don't think we have," Alice said with a smile as she lowered her hood, Téa's bright blue eyes widening.

"Alice!? How did, are you, oh my gosh!" She squealed, her jaw still on the floor.

"Hey, what am I chopped liva?" Joey asked as he too dropped his hood.

"Joey!?" Téa yelped, jumping from her spot on the floor and flinging herself into the blonde's waiting arms.

"Much better, Téa. Though you may wanna keep da volume down, wouldn't want cha blowing our stealthy escape," he teased, rumpling her hair affectionately.

"But I don't understand, how did you find me?" She whispered, looking between her two cloaked friends.

"It's a long story, one I'll tell you once we're out of here. Put this on and we'll go," Alice muttered, handing Téa the last cloak.

The taller brunette didn't complain as she put the cloak on over her clothes. Once she was situated all three slipped their hoods up and left the cell, Alice locking the door behind them. Walking with purpose, she led them to the emergency staircase and began giving them instructions.

"These stairs will lead you to the main floor of the hospital. Once you're there just exit the closet, take a right, and head toward the back doors. Do either of you have your phones?" She asked. When both shook their heads she pulled hers out and handed it to Joey, "Here, take mine then. Use it to call Yugi; he should be able to give you directions to my house, or send someone to get you."

"What about you?" Téa asked almost silently, reaching out and grasping Alice's hand.

"I've still got one more friend to save," she answered with a sad grin. "But don't worry, once we get out we'll meet you there."

"Ya sure ya don't want us ta wait?" Joey said as he wrapped her in a quick hug.

"I'm sure. It's less suspicious seeing two Shadows leaving together than four. Go, the sooner you're out of here the better."

Téa gave her hand a squeeze before she let go and followed Joey up the stairs. Alice waited a few minutes to be sure no one had seen or was tailing them and then she quickly began making her way back to Seto's cell.

There was still no one wondering the halls and that gave her some small comfort as she approached his cell. She started to put the key into the door when a chill ran through her, causing the hair on her arms and the back of her neck to stand on end. It was like electricity was suddenly humming through her, coursing through her body like blood. She'd only ever felt the sensation three times before, but somehow this time it was different, more intense.

"Aeris?" She whispered aloud frantically; turning her head back and forth, looking for the apparition of the Egyptian woman.

_**"I am here, child." **_She responded, her voice strong and loud in Alice's mind. _**"I feel it too."**_

The brunette shuddered and slid the key the rest of the way home, hoping that both she and her counterpart were simply oversensitive.

When she entered the room she found Seto slumped over, the chains the only thing holding him from collapsing to the floor. In a panic Alice rushed to his side, barely getting the door closed behind her. She gingerly reached up and cupped his face, using her thumb to rub away some of the blood trickling from the cut on his cheek.

Seto's eyes immediately snapped opened, rage smoldering in the cobalt of his irises as he sneered down at her. The look in his eyes and the shock in her veins froze her, rendering her unable to say or do anything as his hands flashed up, pulling the chains to their limits as he grabbed her delicate wrist harshly.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He snarled viciously, his fingers gripping tighter against her skin. The sedatives Claves had given him seemed to have worn off.

Alice's vocal cords were knotted in distress, the words she could have said to stop him dying in her throat. Instead she yelped in pain, and tried to yank away from him, but his hold was harder than steel. Obviously angered by both her lack of response and pathetic attempt to escape, he squeezed harder.

"And here I was thinking that you were that sadistic bitch from before. But you're only a pathetic substitute," he growled low in his throat before using all of his strength to fling her across the room.

Her head hit the door with a sickening thump, her jaw making contact with the handle before she slumped to the floor. Dazed and disoriented. Clutching the fabric covering her head, she withered on the floor, trying to stop the pounding of her skull. She could only just hear Seto's cruel laughter and voice over the ringing in her ears.

"This is the best you _Shadows_ have to offer? Get out of here runt. And tell your boss I'm not giving him shit."

Staggering to her feet, Alice used the wall to right herself. "No," she mumbled, wiping the blood from her mouth with a trembling hand.

"No? What the fuck do you mean no?" Seto demanded cynically.

Alice pushed herself off the wall and stumbled toward him, stopping far closer to him than she had planned. He raised his hands toward her neck, most likely with the intent of strangling her. But Alice didn't flinch away as she whispered, "I'm not leaving without you."

His hands stopped in midair, pausing as his eyes widened and then closed, lips pursed and his expression radiating agony. Even while he'd been tortured, his face didn't hold a tenth of the pain it did now. "Alice?" He croaked, slumping against her small frame, no longer having the strength or will to hold himself up. One very tired hand slid up and pushed her hood down, tangling in her chocolate brown tresses as they cascaded down.

The small brunette bit her swollen lip, "I probably should have said something when I walked in."

"You think," he grumbled, cupping her face and resting his forehead against hers. "I could have killed you, idiot. I can't believe I did that. Shit."

"I can, it was self defense… sort of." Alice said with a comforting smile.

Seto's brow furrowed and he scowled at her, "You're too damn nice. I just chunked you across the room, making you bleed, and that's all you have to say."

"I made you bleed too," she mumbled through a thick throat, running her hand along his right one that was still holding her face; tracing lightly under the still fresh "X" Scarlet had branded him with.

His sapphire eyes became both incredibly angry and haunted as he let go of her face. "Why don't we talk about something else? And could you get me out of these," he asked, gesturing to the chains.

"Sure," Alice nodded, hoping she could take his mind off their problems as she began trying to loosen the manacles attached to his wrists. "So… were your first words really Neutron Blast attack?"

Seto gave a cough of a laugh, "You ask the strangers things."

"You told me to talk about something else." She grumbled, trying to look annoyed at him but failing.

"But out of all the topics in the world, you picked that one," he mocked quietly, watching her with tired eyes. "Do you not have a key for these too?"

Alice shook her head slightly, "No. I only got three keys, one for each of the cells."

"Who else was being held here," he muttered his voice turning hoarse at the end.

"Joey and Téa, but we'll talk about that later because I already got them out. Right now let's focus on getting you out of these," She said soothingly as she continued trying to find some weak point in the chains, some clasp that would release him. Perhaps if she were able to loosen the cuffs enough he could just wiggle out of them.

"You won't be able to slip them off, believe me I tried that. You're going to need to find the key or some bolt cutters, something that packs a punch." Seto stated even though the feat seemed to take a lot of energy.

Alice slowly raised her eyes to his, her head cocked to the side, "Something that packs a punch?"

"That is what I said," he responded, somehow still managing to smirk at her.

Her mind whirling in circles, Alice took a half step back from him, taking in the chains from a larger perspective. It may be easier to detach the chains from the walls than from his body… but then again they'd have to lug around all that excess weight so maybe not. Seto said that she would need something that packs a punch, something that's powerful enough to cut through iron, or steel, or whatever metal was holding him in place. Realization dawned on her and she moved her hand to rest on her upper thigh, over her dueling strap and the deck that lay inside.

_Aeris? Are you paying attention? I could really use your assistance, _Alice thought, ignoring the way Seto's eyes probed her knowingly.

Aeris' reply was hesitant,_** "I do not think helping you would be wise."**_

"What? Why not?" Alice demanded. Seto quirked an eyebrow at her that she chose to pretend not to see.

The Egyptian woman responded with the equivalent of a mental sigh, _**"That chill we felt outside the cell, I believe it has to do with Jasper's infiltration of your friend's company. Can you not feel my electricity thrumming so strongly in your veins? If I use my ability through you as I have done in the past, my soul would overpower yours and your energy would fade. It would surely kill you, child."**_

Of course Alice could feel the electricity running through her, but she was trying to ignore it in favor of helping Seto. Aeris' soul and thoughts had always been weaker, softer than her own; it hadn't occurred to her what would happen if it were the other way around. It made sense, in a way, that if her counterpart grew too powerful then the strain on Alice would be enough to drain all of her energy… but she had no other way to get Seto out, no other way to save him. If she could just get Aeris to agree, surely only a moment's connect wouldn't kill her. Alice opened her mouth to try and bargain, but she was cut off mentally.

_**"I refuse. Your plan is juvenile and impossible. If you truly require my assistance then try summoning me." **_Aeris snarled, sounding absolutely enraged with Alice for the first time.

"Summon you?" Alice mumbled quietly, her brows knitting together.

She could almost picture the spirit's demeaning grin as she said, _**"I do have a card. Why not put Jasper's new modifications to the test? Let us see how much combat damage this system is capable of."**_

"Duh, why didn't I think of that?" The brunette sighed,pulling off her cloak and letting it fall to the floor. She activated her duel disk, watching as the lights flashed on. "Right, let's do this."

"Do what?" Seto drawled, his expression hovering between bemusement and skepticism. "You've been talking to yourself for two minutes; care to share with the class?"

Alice pulled out her deck and began shuffling through her cards, looking for the one that would hopefully be able to release him. "You'll see."

Seto raised an eyebrow at her cynically but didn't say anything in response. Alice found the card not by sight, but by the sudden shock that raced from her fingertips up her arm. She drew the card out, staring at it for a moment. Everything about it was eerily familiar; the red outlining around the image, the swirling black background, the faded Millennium tablet, even the destroyed figure with wings chained to the stone. Though she'd never played the card before – never actually looked at it properly – Alice felt a surge of nostalgia run through her at the sight of it.

She wondered briefly if she'd have to perform the ritual mentioned in the card's description in order to unleash Aeris' power. Or maybe because this wasn't a dueling circumstance Aeris would simply appear when her card hit the electronic board. The brunette worried her lower lip, mentally questioning whether this was even a good idea anymore.

_**"Play the card, Alice. Your worries are insignificant, the plan will work." **_The Egyptian woman taunted lightly.

"Fine," Alice grumbled, hesitantly placing the card onto her duel disk and gasping as the current in the air intensified and the room filled with a dry heat.

And then standing in front of her, no hint of translucence visible, was Aeris. Her gorgeous white gold wings folded tranquilly behind her back, her tan face a mask of indifference and seclusion, her black and red garb laying perfectly over her hardened frame, and the rusted remains of manacles so like the ones of Seto's own wrists gleaming sharply under the harsh fluorescents. Somehow, Aeris looked less deadly than the previous times Alice had seen her. It may have been the way her wings were situated, making them seem like harmless, fluffy pillows… but more than likely it was the absence of the blue glow of power that usually surrounded the dangerous woman.

"Did it work? Are you… solid?" Alice whispered.

The Egyptian woman said nothing in response as she sauntered toward Seto. The CEO eyed the strangely dressed woman suspiciously, but did nothing to stop her as she placed her hands over the cuffs on his wrists. His eyes widened slightly, betraying the shock he felt as the metallic bonds disintegrated under her slender palms. Aeris turned her head away from Seto, her glowing black green eyes meeting Alice's wide emerald pair, **"It would appear that we were indeed successful."**

"Yeah I'd say," Alice mumbled in awe as she watched Aeris destroy the last three chains before stepping back to stand next to her.

The young billionaire massaged his neck and rolled his shoulders, trying to relieve the tension in his sore muscles. "So you're the real Aeris?" He asked, coming to stand right in front of her. "For a Duel Monster you don't look very dangerous."

The Egyptian goddess raised a delicate eyebrow, letting some of her usual blue electricity seep from her skin, **"Careful Mister Kaiba, I could destroy you just by sighing."**

Seto grinned at her, "I'd like to see that." He looked her up and down, and then turned to Alice, "You should have worn her outfit when you infiltrated my dreams. That would have really gotten my attention."

"Seto!" She balked, her cheeks flushing as she eyed all of the tan skin her counterpart was displaying confidently.

Aeris let out a quiet chuckle, **"I shall leave you two to work out your escape and **_**other**_** problems."**

Alice ignored the woman and took the card off her duel disk, slipping it back into her holder and seeing Aeris vanish from the corner of her eye. She then bent and picked up her cloak, tossing it to Seto. "Here put this on, and yes I know it won't fit properly but we need you to be more inconspicuous."

"What about you?" He asked with a lazy smirk, "You don't exactly blend in with that outfit." He slid the hood up and let his eyes freely rake over her black heeled boots, tight spandex pants, subtle gray belt, elbow length gloves, and zippered midriff shirt.

"We don't have time to steal another cloak for me and besides, I'm technically in uniform." She said with a teasing smile, cocking her hip.

Seto reached out and grabbed her, skimming his hands across the exposed skin on her waist, "It's a nice uniform."

"You know there's a time and place for everything." She scolded, trying to ignore the chill his fingers sent through her.

He released her and grinned when she pouted. "You're right, let's get out of here first."

"Sadistic jerk billionaire… so annoying." She muttered under her breath.

Ushering him out and ignoring the smug smirk she knew must be on his face when he passed her, she proceeded to lock the door behind them. The pair walked silently down the hallway to Vesuvius' office where Alice deposited the keys. They rushed through the maze of corridors and branching hallways, not relaxing their pace until they saw the doorway to the emergency stairwell. They hadn't encountered anyone, so Alice felt calm and confident that they might really make it out. And then the alarm sounded.

"Alice?" Seto yelled as she started sprinting for the door. He followed automatically but struggled through his physical and mental exhaustion to keep up.

"We need to get up the stairs now," Alice panted, pulling open the old wooden door and hurrying him inside. "If we don't get out of here before–" but she didn't get to finish because the sound of pounding feet filled the hallway. She closed the door to the stairwell just before the hoard of Shadows rushed by. Pausing, the couple breathed a small sigh of relief that no one saw the door close, and then Alice took off up the rickety stairs with Seto behind her.

When they reached the top of the stairs they exited into the supply closet, and then slipped into the main floor hallway of the hospital unseen; both Alice and Seto slowed their pace and began walking casually toward the rear exit. The chaos from the power outage seemed to have calmed down some as well, but it was still so much of an issue that none of the nurses noticed the two figures in black preparing to slip out into the early morning light. The alarm from the basement couldn't be heard on the hospital floor, but the brunettes didn't lower their guard, which was why they saw the middle aged woman with red hair pacing in front of the exit

Grace; the older woman with gray eyes who usually manned the reception desk at the front of the hospital. She was one of Vesuvius' informants, and one of the few Shadows who knew Alice was his niece and what she looked like. Alice had nearly forgotten about the ill-tempered woman, it had been weeks since she'd even noticed her at the desk. There was no getting out of the door without Grace seeing them, so they walked straight toward her with purpose.

"Alice!" The elder woman exclaimed, continuing to nervously fidget in front of the door until the two were directly in front of her. She then demanded urgently, "What's going on in headquarters? The silent alarm went off at my desk. Why aren't you both at your posts?"

"We got word from Jasper that Yugi Muto and his friends are planning to come and infiltrate headquarters to try and rescue their friends. Claves ordered that we secure the exits and ensure that the perimeter is fortified as well." Alice said in a monotone voice, bowing her head slightly.

The red haired woman nodded. "Of course, carry on."

Both brunettes moved toward the door with hurried purpose, stepping out into the cold, misting, and wintery morning air. Neither moved farther until the metal door was firmly shut behind them, and then they were dashing for the motorcycle Alice had hidden in the alleyway.

"That was almost too easy." Seto muttered as Alice swung her leg over the bike and cranked it up. He looked at her incredulously, "You don't seriously expect me to ride bitch?"

Her head whipped to him, eyes wide. "What did you just say!?"

He grinned mischievously then, sliding down the hood and letting the light mist dampen his chestnut hair. "It's an expression, Alice. Why don't you let me drive?"

She scoffed and then stroked the bike's sleek black paint, "_This_, is my baby! Besides, you may still have some sedatives in your system; I don't want you falling asleep on me, and you've lost a lot of blood. Don't you feel even a little light headed?"

His eyes seemed to droop slightly and darken, as he ran a hand through his hair before sitting on the bike behind Alice. "Point taken. But this _didn't_ happen."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she giggled quietly, choking off only when Seto slid his arms around her waist, grasping her hips.

"Come on, Alice. Let's get going," he chuckled, scooting closer until he was firmly pressed against her back. He rested his chin on top of her head and began drawing small circles against her stomach.

"Jerk," she breathed before revving the bike and then peeling out of the alleyway.

_~~~DFAD~~~_

When they pulled into the driveway of the Kaiba Mansion, Seto was quick to dismount before anyone could see him. Alice however, stayed on the bike and called over her shoulder, "Hurry back."

He turned back to face her, the borrowed cloak he was wearing swirling around his upper ankles. "What do you mean, 'hurry back'?"

"I mean go put on a shirt and come back. Everyone's meeting at my house so I can explain what's going on." She said, shivering gently as the morning mist became a light drizzle.

"It might take a few minutes. with all these cuts–" he began, subconsciously tightening his right hand into a fist and causing it to bleed anew.

"Son of a Kuriboh! I forgot you were injured," Alice yelped before killing the power on her bike. She leapt off and ran toward Seto, grasping his arm gently. "Let's go fix you up first."

They walked through the grand front doors and were met with darkness and silence. As they made their way up the stairs to Seto's bedroom where the first aid supplies were, the billionaire seemed to finally notice the absence of a certain happy raven haired teen.

"Where's Mokuba? Hell, where's any of my staff for that matter?" He grumbled as Alice began to clean his wounds with the antibiotics.

"He's already at my house, and we told your staff to head somewhere safe until they get the okay from you. It was the smartest– SORRY!" Alice cried as Seto hissed and jerked away from her.

"Be careful." He snarled, cradling his right hand against his chest.

"I'm trying," she said gingerly, lightly grasping his hand. "I'm a little shaky so it's hard to be perfect. And this thing isn't helping," she muttered, detaching her duel disk and letting it fall to the bed. She shuddered before finishing the last of his stitches.

"Cold?" He asked, his voice indicating that he felt nothing besides curiosity.

"Yeah, and honestly I'm a little freaked. Everything's finally both falling apart and coming together," she muttered, finishing the cross-stitching on Seto's hand. The blatant "X" making her stomach clench and twist in guilt. She looked away from him and went to fetch her backpack, shoving her duel disk and deck strap into the bag. When she turned back around she found Seto staring at her openly.

Suddenly he stood up from the bed without warning and left the room. When he came back he had on a black turtleneck, new pants, and his black trench coat; all of which hid the majority of his new wounds. He tossed something at her and she caught it on reflex. It was the black hoodie with the silver KC on it.

"Put that on, you look like a hooker." He said with a tired smirk. She dropped her bag and slipped it on over her head before replacing it on her shoulder.

"You say the sweetest things," Alice muttered sarcastically as they headed back out into the now gentle snowfall.

_~~~DFAD~~~_

It didn't take long for them to make their way to the Porter Estate, and when it was finally within sight Alice was unsurprised to find three cars sitting along the curb and in the driveway. She maneuvered the bike into the open garage and grabbed the bag from the side pouch. They made their way through the pitch black garage and into the house that was somehow brighter. As they approached the living room it became apparent that candles had been lit, giving off a warm glow to the tense room.

Standing in the doorway, Alice and Seto stared around the room that was literally divided in half. Sitting around the couch and the armchairs were Yugi and the rest of his group of friends; including the recently freed Téa and Joey, as well as Mokuba. The younger Kaiba seemed to want to sprint across the room and embrace his brother, but he was restraining himself because of the aggressive atmosphere. Leaning against the fireplace were the three Shadows Alice knew would help her complete her mission; Hayden, Claves, and Lucas. She trusted every last person in the room, the question was could they trust each other?

"Thanks for coming everyone," she mumbled as she shuffled to stand next to Hayden, leaving Seto to take up a spot next to Mokuba. "I've got a lot to tell you in a small amount of time, so bare with me because this is going to get crazy."

And then Alice began to tell a story that dated back to a time when monsters were very real, and Egyptian magic had only just been sealed away; a time when the Millennium items could no longer be used, and a woman named Aeris was persecuted brutally for her inner demons.

[_A/N: Review please? :)_ ]


	24. Assimilation

[_A/N: I can't believe I only have like two chapters left to go after this! This story always seemed like it was just going to go on forever 3_]

***Disclaimer*** (I don't own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" but if Kazu ki Taka hashi wanted to trade for a couple of poptarts and a bag of ramens I'd be in business.)

**Chapter 24 – Assimilation**

"When Pharaoh Atem sacrificed himself to imprison Zorc in the Millennium ring, he had no idea what chaos would ensue in his absence. It wasn't until after the Sacred Guardians passed on that everything in Egypt truly took a turn for the worse. With the absence of the great Pharaoh and the Guardians there was no longer anyone worthy to hold a Millennium Item. The Items were thus sealed away in a stone sarcophagus to await a time when noble humans once again walked the Earth.

"That was the legend that all of you were told… but did none of you ever wonder what happened to Egypt without the Items around to keep the order? The Millennium Items were intended to pull out the spirits within a person and seal them away in stone tablets, but without the Items the Egyptians had no way to achieve this; yet they still believed that a person was not fit to live in their society unless they were first cleansed of all 'evil' spirits. There were still many spirits using the people of Egypt as their hosts, therefore the new pharaoh of the time decided that they should be extracted by any means necessary.

"The only method that the seemed effective enough was also a cruel means of torture. The host of the spirit was chained to the Millennium tablet, more for posterity's sake than anything else. A separate, blank tablet was then set across from the imprisoned, meant to hold the spirit when the ritual was successful. The host was then starved of food and water, left in the dry and hot tomb to 'repent' for harboring a wicked spirit. Eventually the body of the vessel would come to the brink of death, but the energy of the duel spirit within would sustain the vessel's life indefinitely; thus torturing both spirit and human to no end. After some time both spirit and vessel would give in, seeking reprieve from the pain. The human then renounced the spirit, pulling back into the recesses of their mind while the spirit would reject the vessel and rip itself from its anchor, transferring into the blank tablet. It was a painful procedure even if they gave in immediately. Ripping the spirit out of its vessel, though it was willingly done in the end, took a great toll on both human and spirit. Sometimes the human could recover from the damage of dividing its soul, but sometimes they perished after the spirit left.

"That's where Aeris comes in. She was a potential candidate for the pharaoh's new priests, one of the new Sacred Guardian's of the pharaoh. Though the position was not as esteemed as in the past, a certain level of purity was expected. As such she was put through testing to ensure that she was untainted and worthy of protecting the pharaoh. During the test it was discovered that the young woman did indeed have a duel spirit within her, and as such it would need to be extracted.

"Aeris was inhabited by a spirit called Goddess Chaos. Despite her name the spirit had nothing but peaceful intentions and Aeris knew this, so she and the spirit had cohabitated for quite a while. However, misfortune and destruction followed the vessel of Goddess Chaos no matter where the human traveled. It was her curse, therefore it was deemed a high priority to extract Goddess Chaos, but Aeris refused to relent to the ritual. The young priestess believed that the ritual would hurt the spirit more than it would her, and also if Goddess Chaos was sealed in a tablet she would be forced to battle and be tortured further; so she refused to make the spirit within her go through that. She held out for fifty days, an unheard of time period, and in that time she shriveled down into nothing. Goddess Chaos could take it no more on the fiftieth day and convinced Aeris that something needed to be done.

"The priestess still refused to give up the spirit to become a real monster, so instead they devised a plan. Goddess Chaos knew that after the strain of fifty days there was no way for Aeris to survive, so in retaliation they decided that neither of them would be the new pharaoh's puppets. For the next fifteen days, the two women merged parts of their essence and then ripped it from their body. They stored what they could remove bit by bit in the only place that the Egyptians would never think to look for it, the back of the Millennium tablet. They made the engraving of their combined spirits so small that it was no larger than a piece of paper. They also spanned warnings around the small alcove that was inevitably created behind the Millennium tablet, least some innocent person happen upon it.

"On the sixty-fifth day they'd extracted enough of their souls to finally give their body peace. The Egyptian's were baffled, no one had ever heard of two souls simply disappearing. There were legends of how to destroy souls and spirits, but nothing that could be proven. Rumors and myths began to spread like wildfire, most outrageous in nature, but a few were spot on. One of the myths that was close to the truth said that Aeris used some type of black magic to seal both herself, and Goddess Chaos into a tablet hidden in an unreachable place. While parts of the myth were incorrect, there was enough truth in it that it led many people to seek it out.

"It is this tablet, this essence, that has driven Vesuvius and his Shadows to heinous lengths to obtain. It is these people who would do anything to get what they want," Alice explained as she sat calmly on the ledge of her fireplace. Her friends and allies all looked at her with varying reactions to her story; disbelief, shock, confusion, anger, understanding, fear; but worst of all was the look of utter delight on Mokuba's face. Worst because she knew that it wouldn't last. "Is everyone following so far?"

"Yeah, we understand what you're saying. Even it's a load of hocus pocus nonsense," Seto grumbled, crossing his arms.

"Big brother," Mokuba reprimanded, "Don't talk to your girlfriend like that! Go on, Ali."

The brunette's eyes widened in response and she shrank back into her brick seat when Joey began yelling.

"Girlfriend!? You two are dating already!? For Ra's sake why do ya have to move so fast?" Joey pouted, fisting his hands in his already messy blonde locks.

"Jealous, Wheeler?" Kaiba sneered, the arms crossed tightly over his chest flexing slightly.

"Jealous? Hell no! But I'm sick of ya acting like ya own her," the blonde snarled as he stood from his seat on the couch.

"Joey," Yugi warned cautiously, placing a hand on his best friend's shoulder. "Do you really think this is the right time?"

Grumbling, the duelist retook his seat, glaring at the smirk that was ever present on Kaiba's face. "Ya got lucky rich boy."

All eyes were on Joey and Seto, all attention was trained on him and his "nemesis", which was why the reactions of the Shadows in the corner went unseen or heard.

The corner of Hayden's mouth quirked up into a lopsided grin as he watched the "discreet muttering" that was still going on between the blonde and brunette duelists. "Alice sure has some interesting friends," he noted loud enough for only Claves and Luke to hear.

The clover haired woman simply shook her head, her face impassive but her eyes alight with curiosity. Luke on the other hand smiled widely in return, "Like we have any room to talk."

This got more of a response out of the stony woman as she rolled her eyes when Hayden chuckled deeply. Sighing gently she said, "Boys, gossip later. Alice is about to continue."

The green eyed girl in question had gone back to staring sadly at her empty coffee table, but when she spoke her voice was monotone, no inflection of grief present. The factual way she started to speak somehow made her bizarre tale more realistic, more tangible to the group.

"Almost three thousand years after the 'disappearance' of Aeris and Goddess Chaos's souls, a man named Maximillion Pegasus traveled to Egypt. Whether it was truly just a quest for inspiration or if he really was trying to find a way to resurrect his dead lover I can't say for sure. What I do know is that because of these trips he eventually found the Millennium tablet and created the game you all know so well. And then came the God cards; then came Slifer, Obelisk, and Ra.

"I'm not sure if any of you are aware of this, but Maximillion was not an only child." Alice muttered hesitantly.

"What!?" Joey yelled.

"No way," Téa gasped.

Yugi's jaw went slack. Seto shrugged, already knowing this information. And Mokuba's wonder filled eyes clouded over with undiluted fear. Alice was very aware of what Maximillion had done to the raven haired teen, done to all of them really, which was why she found herself fighting to maintain her even tone.

"He had two siblings, one older and one younger. When he created the God cards he had no intention of keeping them all for himself, rather he wanted to give one to each of them. But the cards had a different idea. They began murdering the design team and Maximillion feared for his and their safety, so he sent the cards to Egypt for safekeeping.

One of his siblings wasn't at all pleased with this development though, anyone care to guess who it was?"

There was silence for half a beat before someone spoke, and it surprised Alice that it was Hayden.

"Vesuvius." He said clearly. Shortly. Simply. More silence followed Hayden's declaration, but eventually voices were found.

"Whoa, so this new threat is actually coming from Pegasus' older brother? That's nuts! Does this mean we have to throw down with Pegasus too?" Duke ranted as his suave facade began to crack under the weight of the new information.

"Younger," Claves corrected calmly from Hayden's side, her lavender eyes sharp.

"What?" Duke shot back, his hand beginning to rumple what had been neatly styled locks.

"Vesuvius is Pegasus' younger brother, not older." She explained before taking a step forward, "And Pegasus is just as much a victim as all of you."

"You sure do know a lot," Tristan declared as his eyes began to narrow. "Who are you again?"

The clover haired woman raised an eyebrow in his direction, "Claves, I'm Mister Kaiba's maid."

"You're his maid? Then what are you doing here, we hardly need help from–"

"She's also the leader of Vesuvius's Shadows, so I'd watch what you say." Hayden cut in, his tone deadly calm.

"Then what's she doing here?" Tristan mumbled crossly, obviously a little disquieted at being reprimanded.

"Helping save your lives," the white haired boy responded coldly.

"Yeah, well who are you anyway? And how do we know we can trust ya?" Joey wondered aloud, coming to his friend's aid.

A shadow crossed Hayden's face and his eyes dilated as a sinister smile stretched across his previously tranquil face, the kind of smile that used to make Alice think that he was a blood thirsty lunatic. "I'm Hayden Pegasus, and the man who's trying destroy your peace is my father."

Faces all over the room morphed into expressions of horror, distrust, and caution. Hayden had never acted like this before, at least not as long as Alice had known him. She sensed that he was only behaving snidely and maliciously because of the verbal attack on Claves, but how would she ever be able to explain that to her friends. The tension in the room was so thick it could be cut with a knife, so Alice was grateful when Luke spoke up.

"Claves _was_ the leader, but she isn't anymore. Hayden might be the Ma… err Vesuvius' son, but he doesn't like what his daddy's been doing. And I'm Lucas, no important job or family members really. You don't have to trust us, but we defected to the side of justice to help you, and that's what we're going to do." He mumbled softly with an uneasy smile.

"So you were all Shadows?" Yugi verified, seeming to be the only one of his friends composed enough to talk directly to them.

"Yes we were, but I think Alice was going to go over that eventually. Shall we get back on topic?" Claves suggested, the corners of her mouth hinting at amusement as she whispered "Nice speech," and the blonde Shadow grimaced.

"Right, where was I?" Alice began, "Oh yes! Maximillion created the God cards with the intention of keeping one and giving the remaining two to his siblings, but when he realized how dangerous they were he sealed the cards away. This enraged Vesuvius, who had always longed for power and attention. He attempted to seek out the God cards and steal them from the tomb keepers… but he was no match.

"While in Egypt he heard the whispers about the priestess whose soul vanished during the cleansing ceremony along with the duel spirit that inhabited her. Tales of a being so powerful that not even the Egyptian dynasty could control it; obviously Vesuvius was hooked. He scoured the Valley of the Kings and all other religious tombs of the past looking for any leads to follow. Eventually, he gathered enough information to really begin digging into Aeris' past.

"Before all of this he had already established his Shadows. My guess is that after Maximillion refused to hand over the God card, Vesuvius decided that he would acquire other things to occupy his time. The Shadows were created for that very purpose. He took in anyone from orphans, misfits, and murders to pampered billionaires and duelists. The Shadows became a coalition of information gatherers and thieves; trained to follow around targets and take from them whatever it was Vesuvius desired. He used these Shadows to gather information on Aeris and Goddess Chaos, which lead him to the Millennium tablet his own brother had researched years earlier.

"When he discovered the Millennium tablet was a potential source of information he immediately hired a pair of confidential archeologists to guide him through the tomb. The archeologists weren't Shadows, they were just ordinary people being paid to help a man look for a stupid rock carving. They had no idea what they were getting themselves into, but they wrongly trusted Vesuvius anyway."

Alice swallowed the lump growing in her throat and closed her eyes, trying to calm her racing heart before she continued. "I'm going to ask that you not interrupt me from now on. It will be difficult, and you can yell at me later, but if I'm to tell this part of the story I need to do it in one go. Can you deal with that?"

Hesitant glances and worried eyes watched Alice as she slowly let her eyes open again, the green of her irises far too dark and clouded. She fixed her gaze of each of them and waited for a nod before she continued. While she spoke her eyes slowly shifted back to their usual emerald hue.

"The two archeologists that Vesuvius hired were my parents, Daniel and Charlotte Porter. My parents and I had lived in Egypt for almost three years after moving away from Domino, so we all knew the lay of the land flawlessly. I was ten when Vesuvius first proposed that my parents take him into the tombs around the Valley. At first they refused, saying that it would drain what little free time they had to spend with me. But my mother gave in eventually.

"You see, she was so very happy that Vesuvius had even considered asking her and my father to be his guides. She was more than eager to help him, thrilled that he had contacted her. They had never really gotten along well and as his older sister it broke my mother's heart."

The collective gasp and accusatory glares that instantly appeared on everyone's faces were enough to tell her what she needed to know; she would not be forgiven, easily. Joey looked ready to shout and Mokuba ready to cry so she hurried along.

"Yes, my mother was Charlotte Pegasus Porter. I'm the niece of both Vesuvius and Maximillion Pegasus, as well as Hayden's cousin. But right now that isn't the point. The point is Vesuvius hired my mother and father because he figured that if something went wrong, that if his vile intentions were discovered, then my mother would be forced to stay silent out of shame. They began their search with the chamber that housed the Millennium tablet, but when they found nothing of interest they moved on to the other pyramids and tombs.

"Like I said earlier, I was ten years old and since my parents were archeologists I really didn't have anything to do all day except play in the sand and be babysat by my parents' friends. After they abandoned their search of the Millennium chamber for the time, I took to exploring the labyrinth myself. A few days passed and I found more dead ends then fun new hiding places. My parents had taken me through the tomb before, so I knew where the Millennium chamber room was, but I didn't want to play somewhere that was easily found.

"In one of the dead ends I wound up in there was a small hole at the base of the wall, hidden almost entirely by an Egyptian statue. You could see clear through the hole in the wall to a dark room with jagged stone walls. I worked for weeks making the hole big enough to squeeze through, and when I was finally able to push through I found the thing that Vesuvius had been searching for.

"The room was maybe eight feet wide and almost a perfect square with rounded corners, except that the ceiling was infinitely higher up. The stones were cut roughly and unevenly, like they had been ripped in half. Shattered pieces of rock and debris coated the makeshift floor; it seemed like an explosion had created the room. And straight in front of me was a blank stone tablet that was set into the wall. It was made of a different material than the rest of the room and the texture and coloring were familiar, but I didn't realize it was the Millennium tablet until much later.

"At the bottom of the tablet, about the size of a piece of paper, was an image of a woman with wings. There was small writing below it, but I couldn't read Hieroglyphics at the time so I didn't know what it said. I didn't know what any of the writing around the room said, I couldn't read the warnings that Aeris and Goddess Chaos had carved into the walls, but I was so excited anyway. I couldn't wait to tell my parents what I'd found, but as I turned to leave I heard a voice tell me that I couldn't.

"As a child I had never had an imaginary friend, so I summed up the voice to be just that because I didn't know better. The woman's voice said that if I told anyone what I had found then terrible things would happen, and I believed her. Months passed as my parents and Vesuvius continued searching for what I had already discovered. I visited the hidden chamber daily and listened to what the woman had to say.

"I found out her name was Aeris and that I had to keep my uncle away from her and make sure no one ever knew she was there. She told me that Vesuvius was evil and that he wanted nothing but power and to hurt those around him. Despite her warnings I tried to tell my parents what I had learned anyway, but they didn't seem to understand my sudden fear. They were ending their search of one of the last pyramids, which meant that they would be returning to the Millennium tomb to try again.

"Aeris was adamant that I take the depiction of her with me before they got there, and so I did. I stole my parents' tools and ripped the image and smaller words from the back of the Millennium tablet. By no means was I an archeologist so it took hours, and I probably damaged a small portion of the front, but eventually I extracted Aeris' essence from the back of the Millennium tablet. I stole what Vesuvius wanted right from under his nose, and I was only ten years old."

She paused for a moment and glanced around her living room, seeing the disbelief on their faces. A hoarse laugh escaped her lips before she licked them nervously, "I know this all sounds nuts but please just listen." She was about to continue when the lights in her house flickered back on, cutting off further explanation. Muttering and blinking followed the sudden brightness of the room, but it too was cut off when Alice's cell phone began to ring.

Everyone stared wide eyed as she pulled out her phone and stared at it skeptically. She flipped it open, didn't recognize the number, and felt her stomach drop into her shoes as she placed the phone against her ear.

"Hello?"

"Miss Alice! Thank goodness. I've been trying to get a hold of you but the power was out." An anxious male voice informed her.

"Who is this?" She asked. His voice was vaguely familiar, but she couldn't place it.

"Oh, forgive me. It's Father David, we met once before." He responded helpfully.

Alice sighed, "Yes, I remember now. I'm sorry Father but now isn't a good time to talk about your car. If you could call later that would be–"

"This isn't about my Porsche!" He interrupted urgently. "I'm sorry, but I have some unfortunate news."

She hesitated for a beat, "What news?"

Father David cleared his throat, "This morning while I was making my rounds I discovered that vandals had destroyed the angles by your parents' graves. They were broken to pieces! I don't know why anyone would do such a thing but I felt a need to inform you."

Alice's lower lip trembled and her voice wavered, "Thank you, Father. I'm, I'm glad you told me."

"Would you like me to order new statues? The church would obviously help raise the money for you," he offered kindly.

But Alice wasn't worried about statues at the moment; she was worried about what had been hidden _within _them. Her reply was hasty and stammered, "I… yes that, that would be nice. I need to go. I'll drop by, later. Goodbye."

"Alice!? Are you alright?" Father David asked before she could hang up the phone. She didn't respond, just pretended not to hear him and shut her phone.

The brunette turned back to her friends and smiled falsely, "Sorry about that. Shall we get back to the story?"

No one responded, they just stared at her incredulously. Seto took a step forward, taking the initiative.

"Who was that?" He demanded, his ice blue eyes penetrating.

"No one. I didn't know them." She lied, twisting her hands in her lap.

"What did they want?" Claves chimed in, pushing off the wall with an expression that mirrored Seto's.  
"Nothing, it was just a wrong number." She answered quickly, her eyes wide.  
"Dat was a long conversation for a wrong numba," Joey stated, rising from his chair. "Are ya lying?"  
"I'm not. It isn't even important," Alice pleaded.  
"Why won't you talk to us?" Téa asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "You expect us to trust you but you won't trust us?"  
"It isn't like that…" she muttered with a guilty frown.  
"If it's not then tell us." Duke commanded haughtily.  
"I can't."  
"Why can't you?" Tristan grumbled, joining in on the onslaught of questions.  
"Because it wouldn't make sense," she sighed out.  
"We aren't idiots, we'll figure it out," Lucas tried to reason.  
"I didn't say you were," Alice growled, growing aggravated with the situation.  
"Ali?" Mokuba whispered quietly.

The frazzled brunette turned her wary eyes to the raven haired teen. Everyone was ganging up on her and it seemed to be his turn. "What, Mokuba?"

He flinched slightly and didn't meet her gaze as he asked, "Are you okay?"

The question sounded almost forced and it threw her off, but she managed a tiny smile. "No, but we're going to work on fixing that."

Mokuba nodded, his hands on his knees and his violet eyes glued to the floor. She could see him shaking slightly and it made her sad knowing it was her fault. He couldn't even look at her, all because she was Maximillion's niece. She turned away from the guilt and wound up staring into a different pair of violet eyes. The multicolor haired boy hadn't said a word during the sudden interrogation and Alice wondered if now that she was caught in his knowing gaze he would somehow work it all out.

"You don't need to tell us right now," he assured her with a sympathetic smile.

Alice pressed her lips together and nodded, "Thanks Yu–"

"Yug! Don't ya wanna know what happened?" Joey accused with a betrayed frown.

Yugi opened his mouth to reply but Hayden beat him to it.

"Of course he does, we all do. But he trusts Alice to tell him when the time's right, as we all should." The white haired boy had been silent most of the time as well, except for his defense of Claves earlier, and Alice was grateful that he had finally decided to join the discussion.

The brunette bit her lip gently, "I will tell you Joey, but first I have to get to the part that it concerns."

"Fine." The blonde grumbled as he retook his seat. The rest of the gang followed his lead and relaxed back into their original positions.

Alice tried to smile gratefully, but the expression seemed off so she gave up. "Thank you. Now, I'd had the tablet for months before Vesuvius even found the hidden chamber. When he discovered that Aeris was gone I can only assume that he became violent and vocal. My parents must have realized what he was after and tried to stop him, because at the end of the day he came out of that tomb alone.

"He said that there had been a cave in and there was no way to save my parents, and I stupidly believed him. We had my parents' funeral a few days later back in Domino, and I was adopted by my uncle the very next day. Aeris tried to convince me to run away, to try and contact Maximillion for help… but I blamed the death of my parents on her existence and refused to acknowledge her from that point onward.

"So Vesuvius turned me into one of his Shadows and gave me the cover 'Red X'. I dueled for years before I began to realize what had really happened that day. I kept the tablet, mostly as a keepsake, but Vesuvius was getting more obsessed with it by the day and I knew something needed to be done. I tried to destroy it, but it would repair itself or reappear within the hour no matter what I did to it. I had no choice but to visit Maximillion and hope he wouldn't hand it over to Vesuvius.

"At first Maximillion was reluctant to hel–" Alice paused, her head cocking to the side to listen. Everyone else mimicked her in similar ways, trying to figure out at first why she had suddenly stopped, and then listening to the new noise. "Does anyone else hear… music?"

"Oh!" Yugi exclaimed, fishing into his pants pocket and pulling out a small white phone. "Sorry, I forgot I changed my ringtone to the Yu-Gi-Oh! opening theme."

" 'The what' opening theme?" Joey asked before Yugi could put his cell phone to his ear.

The boy with multicolored hair opened his mouth to respond, paused, and then proceeded to look perplexed, "I have no idea why I said that…"

Everyone remained respectfully silent as Yugi answered his phone, "Hello? Grandpa? Wait hold on. Slow down I can't understand you! … How many? Are you hurt? Good. Stay in the shop and lock the door. I will, bye."

Yugi shut off the display on his phone and turned his wide violet eyes to Alice, "Someone just broke into to my Grandpa's shop."

The girl with emerald eyes gapped speechless as the room filled with choruses of 'what', 'why' and 'no way's. Yugi didn't answer any of them though, he just kept his eyes locked with Alice.

"Do you think this could have been Vesuvius's doing?" He wondered.

Alice closed her mouth and considered the possibilities. "I suppose so. Was anything stolen?"

The former King of Games flushed slightly, "The God cards."

The room filled with noise once again. This time in exclamations of anger, worry, and exasperation.

"Oh no," Alice breathed.  
"Yug!" Joey yelled.  
"Idiot," Seto accused.  
"Shit!" Lucas spat.  
"We're screwed," Duke whined.  
"Why!?" Téa whimpered.  
"Ah hell," Hayden groaned.  
"Damn!" Tristan cursed.  
"Figures." Claves sighed  
"…!" Mokuba exclaimed.

"I know! I'm sorry, it's all my fault. I thought that they would be safer locked up in the shop but it turns out I was wrong," Yugi admitted, his expression grave.

"How can we possibly win now?" Mokuba asked in despair.

"Friendship?" Téa suggested.

"Oh real helpful, Gardner. Let's smother Vesuvius with rainbows and sunshine," Seto mocked coldly.

"It worked against you!" The dancer bit back.

The CEO scowled in return while the room around him erupted in more arguments, useless ideas, and panicked worrying. Alice glanced across the room at Yugi through the cluster of her friends who were now standing in their distress. The violet eyed boy was staring at the far wall, his gaze unwavering even when the arguments around them rose to a shout. The expression on his face was that of hopelessness and despair. Alice recognized the look on his face and in his eyes, as did Aeris.

**"Atem!"** Alice found herself calling above her friends.

The arguing died instantly as everyone looked from Alice to Yugi in confusion and subtle awe. The small brunette slowly rose from the fireplace, her eyes hard and dark as they swept over everyone. For reasons unknown to them, they found themselves retaking their seats and moving to lean back against the walls they had previously been beside. Yugi slowly rose as well, his slanted eyes meeting Alice's across the room.

"_Aeris?_" Atem asked, because the voice that came from Yugi was obviously not his own.

The brunette gave him a wiry smile, **"In a sense. I can fix this, but you're going to have to help Alice do it. You're all going to have to hold on to hope and trust her."**

"_Of course_," he nodded, watching her intently.

**"My thanks,"** Aeris sighed, bowing low in gratitude.

When Alice straightened up her eyes slowly lightened from her pupil outward and then she gave a choking gasp and fell backward against the fireplace. Her chest was heaving and her hand was clutching at her heart, but other than that Alice seemed to have escaped the contact with Aeris unscathed.

Atem walked across the room and helped Alice sit back down on the fireplace so she wouldn't break anything. He whispered something in her ear and she shook her head vigorously in response. They said nothing else as Atem took up a new seat next to Alice on the fireplace.

"Sorry about that," Alice muttered with a tired laugh. "Aeris warned me that any contact would be exhausting but we did that anyway. Dramatic, huh?"

"Was that Aeris talking through you just now?" Claves asked with a curious tilt of her head.

"Yes. You were all losing faith so quickly that we decided to do something that would 'shock you silent'."

"Well it worked." Hayden commented with a sly grin.

Alice nodded, "I'm glad it did. I know that it seems hopeless now that Vesuvius has the God cards but–"

"And my Blue Eyes deck," Seto interrupted grudgingly.

"What?" Mokuba yelped.

"My Red Eyes is gone too," Joey added with a dishearten sigh.

"Since when?" Tristan demanded.

"Vesuvius probably took them when the Shadows captured us," Téa offered.

"So not only do we have to go against three God cards, but Kaiba's deck and Joey's Red Eyes as well. Fantastic." Duke lamented sarcastically.

"It could be worse," Luke promised. "At least he doesn't already have Aeris."

"That's right," Alice declared loudly, trying to reclaim control of the conversation. "Aeris is on our side, and no one said that we _have_ to duel Vesuvius."

Everyone mumbled in disagreement. Knowing their history as well as they did made them certain that the bad guys always wanted to duel.

"It could happen!" The brunette said defensively.

"But it isn't likely. Why don't you tell us how Aeris became a Duel Monster card?" Claves suggested helpfully.

"Alright," Alice said with a sigh. "I forgot that I hadn't finished explaining yet."

"After dueling as a Shadow for almost three years, I contacted Maximillion and told him about the tablet, Vesuvius' Shadows, and how my parents really died. Surprisingly he believed every word, but he still refused to help. He said he was busy, and in a way he was because the Duelist Kingdom tournament was going to begin soon. However, after some rather chaotic malfunctions in his dueling platforms, he reconsidered.

"While talking with Maximillion I overheard Aeris think that she could not be destroyed by any normal means. In order for her to return to the spirit realm both her tablet and the

original place of creation had to be destroyed. Maximillion and I considered this option, but Vesuvius had Shadows guarding the Millennium tomb. So instead he turned Aeris into a Duel Monster card and we divided the tablet into three pieces. The card seemed to affect duels in a small radius, more so than the tablet did, so Maximillion made me promise to never use it in a duel unless it was dire. Honestly, at the time I didn't trust Aeris enough to try it anyway."

"Hold on," Seto interrupted crossly. "If Aeris is a real card I would have found information on it when I was running my system scans."

This received a genuine smile from his green eyed Shadow, "Do you recall when you hacked into Industrial Illusions to watch Yugi's duel during Duelist Kingdom? Maximillion found out and sent a virus to your computer. Did you really believe all the virus did was momentarily freeze your system and annoy you with dancing, cartoon rabbits?"

"That no good snake," Seto seethed, realization donning on him. "What did he do?"

"Nothing harmful, he just uploaded Aeris' card data coding into the duel disk network that you were only beginning to create. That way if there was an emergency I could play the card on any system, past or future." She explained calmly.

"But that doesn't make sense," Yugi protested with a confused smile. "If Kaiba ran a search for Aeris or anything new to the system why didn't he find it?"

"Because it wasn't new to the system," she said patiently. "Maximillion hid the coding inside another card's information."

"Yeah, but wouldn't Moneybags notice the extra numbas and stuff when he goes in to do updates on card information?" Joey asked cautiously.

"Wow Wheeler, that sounded almost intelligent." Seto mocked openly.

"Oh shut it, Kaiba." Joey grumbled before turning back to Alice, "Well? Wouldn't he notice?"

"Like I said, it wasn't new to the system. Maximillion hid the data in the one card's information that he knew Seto would never check, never even think to question because he knew it by heart already." Alice declared with a wicked twinkle in her eye.

"The Blue-Eyes White Dragon." Everyone said in unison while Seto just scowled deeply.

"For a flamboyant soul stealer, he has his moments," he grudgingly conceded.

Alice nodded in agreement, "And it served its purpose. Aeris' information was hidden from Vesuvius, I only had a small card to carry around, and the three tablet shards were hidden away; one in Duelist Kingdom, one inside the angels by my parents' graves, and one here."

The brunette stood and gestured to the painting of herself hanging above her fireplace – the painting she had once yelled at Mokuba for trying to straighten. She grabbed the edges of it and moved it off the wall, revealing a sleek black safe.

"Maximillion made this painting for me to hide my piece of the tablet. It's one of a pair; the other hid the first shard piece that was on his island. His piece was stolen a few days ago when Vesuvius finally paid him a second visit, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

"Over two years ago Vesuvius decided that he had had enough of wandering aimlessly around tombs, fighting pointless duels, and interrogating locals. Vesuvius went and paid his brother a visit, but Maximillion refused to tell him anything, so Vesuvius left empty handed that day. I contacted Maximillion later and told him about the plan that I had stolen from Aeris. Originally, Aeris had come up the idea that if Maximillion and I couldn't stop Vesuvius perhaps stronger duelists could. Even though her plan involved me cooperating with her, it was the only one we had so we went with it.

"The next day when Vesuvius came back he abducted Maximillion and tortured him for Ra only knows how long. When Maximillion came out he was worse for wear and refused to speak with me, but he had done his job. He told Vesuvius that he had made the card and given it to a powerful duelist to guard along with the tablet. Vesuvius bought it and immediately set out for Domino to keep tabs on Yugi, Joey, or Seto. He convinced himself that if any one duelist was to have the card it would be one of you three. The Shadows began researching our targets, learning their behaviors and tendencies.

"Our plan wasn't perfect, it had major holes in it and we hadn't quite worked out how it would end, but we were certain that we would get help. We hoped that maybe one of you would notice Vesuvius and his Shadows and take them down in your spare time. And then two years went by. Aeris was a constant presence in my head the whole while, and it nearly drove me mad. I resented her, but her plans were all I had to go on. So when she suggested that I warn you guys somehow, I pretended it was my idea and went with it.

"And now we're to the part that has happened in the past few weeks. I used Aeris to send Seto and Yugi a message while they were sleeping. The message was simple and basic, beware of Shadows, but in order for them to take me seriously I decided to duel both of them. I had to have help from Aeris, because everyone knows I can't duel worth a Kuriboh. We used Aeris' power and my energy to pull them into her subconscious mind, which just so happened to be the Lake of Shadows… which is also a hotel in Ireland, in case anyone wanted to know.

"In one duel I wore my Shadows cloak, and in the other I looked like myself. Both were meant to make the person I was dueling as curious as possible. By winning against both Yugi and Seto, I had their complete attention captured, and as a result I became the 'King of Games'. But it didn't seem to be enough, so I enrolled in your school the next day."

Alice paused to giggle slightly and turn a wicked grin on her favorite CEO. "I nearly drove Seto mad on my first day at school. I bet he thought he was hallucinating since the girl from his dream the night before was suddenly in his class. He was more on alert than anyone."

Seto's lips twitched, "I was slightly attentive to your presence."

"Oh please," Téa scoffed, "I saw you practically fall out of your chair when she walked in the room. She had your _full_ attention."

"Can we get back to the subject at hand?" Seto insisted, his expression neutral as he watched Alice and Téa exchange high fives. Both brunettes smiled triumphantly at each other before Alice continued talking.

"When I first entered your class some of you might have felt a need to defend me, to help me and befriend me even if you normally wouldn't have. That was Aeris' influence. She makes her vessel clumsier and accident prone, a magnet for chaos and destruction, which inevitably made me look weak and vulnerable. That defensive instinct you all felt toward me was her doing… and I honestly don't know if any of you will even want to be my friend after she's gone," she admitted with a nervous laugh.

"But what I do know is that going to your school was the only way that I could keep an eye on all of you without endangering your lives even further. I was responsible for sending Vesuvius to your doorsteps, so I took it upon myself to make sure nothing worse happened. Even that plan didn't work out perfectly though. Mokuba got injured, Téa, Joey, and Seto got kidnapped; I was doing a crappy job. Vesuvius recently stole Maximillion's tablet piece and destroyed the angels that were housing the second piece. That's what the phone call was about. Father David was telling me that the angels had been destroyed, which means Vesuvius has two of the three pieces. Funny, for some reason I thought stone angels were indestructible. Anyway, I still have the last piece and the card so defeating him isn't a lost cause.

"But Vesuvius has control of one of Kaiba Corps. satellites, and he's using this satellite to broadcast Aeris' effect on dueling combat damage worldwide. He has some kind of plan to have people pay to get the effects removed from their area. It's all about money for him."

"We've got a basic plan laid out. It mostly involves–" Alice was cut off by the sound of her phone ringing once again. The number wasn't one she recognized, but she had a feeling she knew who it'd be.

When she answered her phone she took a stab in the dark, but she made she voice sounded calm, confident, and extremely sarcastic. "Vesuvius. Thanks for turning the power back on; I was worried my soufflé wouldn't rise if I just left it sitting there."

She received a harsh bark of laughter in reply, "X dearest, or should I call you Alice now, you're just as charming as ever. Why don't you be a darling and come down to headquarters, we'll have a nice talk about your soufflé."

"Hmm, sorry I'm kind of busy. Besides, your cooking sucks." The brunette said with a sharp smile.

"Enough with these games, I know you have what I want." Vesuvius snarled impatiently.

"I do. But I'm not giving it to you," she bit back.

"Oh I think you'll reconsider. You see, after Jasper told me the little story about our boys failed capture of Mokuba Kaiba I went looking for the girl responsible. I know now that it was really you, but the me of a few days ago didn't. He only knew that the girl had black hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. Sound familiar?" The leader of the Shadows taunted.

Alice's eyes widened, "Mikaila!"

"Yes, the little Renewal girl is so _very_ entertaining. And did you know that she's a screamer?" He asked with mirth as an ear piercing scream vibrated through the phone.

"Stop it, Vesuvius! This has nothing to do with her," Alice seethed. Mikaila was in no way her favorite person, but what Vesuvius was doing was just sick.

"It's _Master_ Vesuvius, MASTER! Don't get brash with me girl. Now, be a dear and bring me the last tablet piece along with the card. Oh, and don't forget your duel disk and deck." He added with false warmth.

"You can not be serious," Alice groaned. "I'm not dueling you, I hate dueling. What's the point? Why don't you just threaten to kill Mikaila unless I hand you everything?"

"Because Alice my dear," Vesuvius said with a cold laugh, "Where would the fun be in that?"

Alice stared at the phone for a few moments after the line went dead. There was no doubt in her mind what she'd have to do, but that didn't mean she liked it. She looked up at her friends and said flatly, "Looks like there's been a change of plans. I'll be dueling Vesuvius after all."

"It'll be alright, Alice. You'll win and everything will be fine," Yugi assured her, his alter ego seeming to think he could handle this by himself. The brunette was already shaking her head though.

"I'm no duelist, Yugi. I have no idea how many times I've said that. The only reason I beat you and Seto was because of luck, Aeris' help, and more luck. My deck's not even properly balanced, there's a very small chance I can actually pull this off." She said as she placed her head in her hands.

"It wasn't luck, it was the heart of the cards." Yugi said kindly. "And don't worry so much, you aren't alone."

"Yeah, ya may have hide things from us but cha had good intentions. We ain't gunna hold it against ya forever, just maybe like a week or so." Joey added with a smile.

"Joey, not helping." Téa reprimanded, slapping his arm lightly.

"Since when does Joey ever help," Duke mocked as he rubbed his knuckles along Joey's scalp.

"What Yugi and the dweeb patrol are trying to say, is that we'll help you get your deck ready for the duel." Seto summarized as he held his hand out.

Alice reached into her red thigh strap and pulled out her deck, placing it in his waiting palm. "I don't know how much good it'll do."

"It'll be enough," Claves said as she pushed off the wall and walked over to the loosely formed circle.

"More than enough," Hayden commented as he followed Claves and wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Hell, I'd say that with our knowledge of Vesuvius's deck and a few tweaks to yours by Mr. CEO, Pharaoh boy, and the Brooklyn furry, you'll be golden!" Luke concluded with a laugh as he slung his arms over Claves and Hayden's shoulders.

"Exactly! What blondie said," Joey laughed, then paused, "Wait! Who ya calling a furry?"

"Who you calling blondie?" Lucas shot back with a wide grin.

Joey narrowed his eyes but then gave him a goofy smile in return, "Meh, fair enough." He then paused for a moment before saying, "I do got one question though. How come I didn't get no dream warning?"

Alice shrugged lightly, "It takes a lot of energy to pull one person into Aeris' subconscious, let alone two. I figured Yugi would tell you about his dream anyway so there was no point in needlessly exhausting myself."

"A'ight, good enough for me." The blonde declared.

_~~~DFAD~~~_

The group eventually made their way to the Alice's kitchen, deciding to go over her deck while they raided her pantry for breakfast. Even though Alice hadn't been staying at her house for a while now, her kitchen was still surprisingly well stocked. Her eyes narrowed as she watched her friends pull out all sorts of things – waffles, pancakes, bacon, eggs, sausage, oatmeal, muffins, omelets, poptarts, donuts – they were making and eating it all. It seemed that even though Alice had cut off all ties with her chef, Sofia, the woman was still making regular food drops. The brunette rolled her eyes as she grabbed a muffin, she should've known.

"How's it going?" She asked as she stood in front of her kitchen table, looking down at all the cards scattered across the surface.

"Pretty good," Yugi said, only glancing up at her momentarily with wide and innocent eyes. "With all the cards that you brought down in that binder we should be able to make you a decent deck. We're lucky you keep extra cards or this would be nearly impossible."

"Nearly impossible, but not entirely." Seto clarified quietly as he picked up a card and placed it on a stack that Alice assumed was the yes pile.

"When we get done you'll take down Vesuvius, no problem." Luke happily reassured her as he elbowed Joey out of the way to grab a card.

"Ey, watch it!" Joey said with a glare in Luke's direction. He then turned to Alice, "This deck is goin to be a mastapiece."

Alice laughed lightly, "I'll leave all of you to it then."

"Hold on," Claves called to her, picking up a card and thrusting it in her direction. "I think you should keep this with you, even while we think we're safe."

The green eyed girl looked down at the familiar card she was being presented with. She grabbed it and held it under the light for a moment, wondering if all it would really take to beat Vesuvius was one good card.

"So, is that Goddess Chaos?" Hayden asked as he looked over her shoulder. "I gotta say, she doesn't look all that intimidating."

"She gets that a lot," Alice smiled as she placed the card back into her thigh strap.

"Not to ruin your fun, but what are the rest of us supposed to do?" Duke asked from the island, a donut hanging part way out of his mouth.

"What we do best! We're going to cheer our friends on," Téa answered as she pulled the donut out of Duke's mouth and put it on a plate.

"Actually, this time you're not." Yugi said sheepishly.

"What do you mean, Yug?" Tristan asked as he put down the fork that had been halfway to his mouth.

"This is going to be dangerous, possibly more so than any other time before. The only people going are me, Alice, Seto, Joey, and the Shadows." Yugi explained nervously.

"But that's not fair!" Mokuba shouted, finally breaking his uncharacteristic silence.

"And who exactly came to this _wonderful_ conclusion?" Duke demanded angrily.

"We all did," Joey defended. "It just isn't safe for all of us to go. Alice isn't a duelist, so she's gunna need rich boy, Yugi, and I to help her out durin the duel. And we need the three amigos to get us past all the other Shadows. You guys would just slow us down."

"Fine," Téa snapped. "But what do you expect us to do? Go to school and pretend everything's normal and our friends aren't risking their lives to fight evil!"

"No!" Yugi shouted, flushing profusely after his rash exclamation. "Go home, better yet go home together. Lock your doors and turn out the lights. Vesuvius could still try and use all of you against us, so don't let him."

"Alright, we'll do it." Tristan agreed with a frown, "But you better all come back. If even one of you doesn't so help me…"

"We will, don't worry." Alice promised, wondering where her sudden confidence was coming from.

Téa, Tristan, and Duke stood up to leave, gathering what little belongings they had brought and heading for the door. But Mokuba stayed seated at the island looking down into his bowl of oatmeal, his brows furrowed in aggravation.

"Come on Mokuba, you can ride with Tristan and I." Téa said kindly as she held the kitchen door open for him to follow.

"I'm not going." He declared defiantly.

"Mokuba." Seto commanded, not even looking up from the cards on the table.

"No, Seto! Every time something cool happens I'm not there. All of you talk about Egypt and pharaohs, but I didn't get to go last time. And now you're telling me I have to miss out on probably one of the most epic duels in history. No!" Mokuba ranted, slamming his palms down on the counter.

The teen's older brother sighed and walked over to the island to stand next to his chair, dragging Alice along with him. The group fixing Alice's deck went back to work, pretending to be oblivious of the trio around the island, and Téa, Tristan, and Duke left the room to go warm up the cars.

"Mokuba, this isn't some fun party or an organized tournament, even if Alice wins the duel there's no guarantee Vesuvius won't kill us anyway. I want you as far away from that as possible. You're all I've got left in this world," Seto said in a hushed tone.

"That's not true," the amethyst eyed teen argued as he began to tear up. "You have Alice. Why does she have to go? Don't make her go, Seto."

He sighed heavily, "It's her duel to fight, Mokuba. But believe me if it wasn't she'd be locked down in a room with you. I'm going with her to make sure she doesn't do anything stupid like get herself killed, but I need you to look after the other three geek squad members."

Mokuba sniffled, "Liar, you're just saying that so I feel important and stop arguing."

Seto smirked, "Would you expect anything less? Now get going."

"Alright, but I want a long and detailed story afterward." He declared before wrapping his arms around Seto's waist and squeezing. Seto patted his back gently and Mokuba pulled away turning to Alice. "I… You're Pegasus' niece."

Alice's stomach fell, so this was how it was going to be. "I am."

Mokuba twisted his hands nervously in front of him, "I'm still mad at you, but I want you to be safe."

"I will," she promised, unsure of how to say goodbye to him now that their relationship wasn't what it used to be.

The raven haired teen made the decision for her as he flung his arms around her neck and smothered her with a hug. Alice wrapped her arms around his back and realized that he was trembling. Somehow, even though he was still both terrified and angry with her, Mokuba had managed to suppress his tenacious fears.

Alice kissed his hair softly and whispered, "I'm so sorry."

The teen pulled back and nodded quickly in understanding before rushing out of the room, most likely to hide the fact that his tears were streaming freely down his face. Alice bit her lower lip as she watched her kitchen door swing closed. She knew that things might never be the same with them again, but she wasn't ready to give up just yet.

"At least you two are making progress," Seto mumbled gruffly.

The brunette looked up at him and blinked, "Are you trying to comfort me?"

Seto grunted in response, striding back to the kitchen table without another word. Alice followed him with a ghost of a smile on her lips.

"Done," Hayden declared, picking up the finished deck and handing it to her. "I have to say that this may just be the most diverse deck ever built."

Alice shuffled through the cards, insuring that she knew what they did and how they were to be used. She recognized all of the cards from either her previous decks or the extra card binder; all but three that is.

"Where did these come from?" She asked, holding them out for everyone to see.

"Well da Scapegoats are from me. Ya never know when you're gunna need to go on the defensive. I probably woulda loaned you my Red Eyes too, but that no good volcano jerk already has it," Joey said with a huff.

"The Dark Magician Girl is a loaner from me," Yugi explained. "I was looking through my deck and I just knew that she'd be able to help you."

There was a slight pause and Alice looked down at the last card in her hand and then up to the only remaining duelist in the room.

Seto scowled, "How you could go all this time without a single Monster Reborn is beyond me, but you'll be using that one."

"Yes sir," she said with a sassy grin as she slid her newly vamped up deck into her thigh strap. Then she adjusted the duel disk that was still on her left wrist. She'd never worn one for this long of a time span and it was starting to rub her wrist raw. Staring down at the piece of technology she wondered if this was how it had always been for Yugi and his friends; saving the world one duel at a time. It was an enormous amount of pressure.

"So, what's the plan?" Claves asked, bringing Alice out of her reverie.

The brunette shook her head to clear her mind, "Right. Here's what we need to do."

[_A/N: I have a deviantart account! The link is on my profile if you want to check it out. There are random pics I've drawn as well as ones for this story done by both me and Aroob 1081. So go forth young ones! Oh, and review :)_ ]


	25. Desolation

[_A/N: The strangest thing happened to me, I was sitting in my chem lecture and the person next to me was reading this story O.o So I hope you like this new chapter, girl! Oh! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAIBA-BOY ^_^_]

***Disclaimer*** (In the end Takahashi wouldn't give me rights to "Yu-Gi-Oh!", but hey at least I still have my ramen right!)

**Chapter 25 – Desolation**

It had been unseasonably cold and wet in Domino, Japan for the last few months, but it had stopped raining by midmorning that fateful November day. Meteorologists had no explanation for the strange phenomenon, and the few who were clued into the secret felt no inclination to share. All of the rain and sleet had created slick roads, dangerous walkways, and icicles that hung from trees and building; but none of these things were as dangerous as the duel that was going to play out at the hospital.

Two vehicles pulled into the parking lot in front of Domino Central Medical Facility; one was a black Kawasaki Ninja and the other was an old silver Honda Civic. Both vehicles were non-descriptive, nothing flashy or extraordinary, but the people who departed from them were just the opposite; two blondes, two brunettes, a male with white hair, a female with green hair, and a boy with hair spiked in so many colors it was hard to find a name for it.

The seven of them gathered in a loose circle around the Honda, watching the ebb and flow of patients and visitors from afar. Panic began to set in when they realized that the hospital was still in use, that since the power was back on there would be numerous people within its walls.

"This could be a problem," one of the brunettes muttered, her green eyes troubled as she watched a mother and a child holding a balloon walk by.

"I agree, but that's probably what Vesuvius intended." The woman with the clover hair observed statically.

"Good thing we planned ahead," one of the blondes mumbled with a nervous grin.

"Yeah, good thing we didn't listen to you and just charge forward." The other blonde mocked halfheartedly.

"Should we start evacuating them now?" The teen with multicolored hair asked.

"No. That would tip our hand," the white haired boy sighed.

"It's pointless to just stand here waiting. Let's go," the last brunette commanded, his blue eyes fierce as he started toward the stairs to the hospital doors.

The six others followed after him, but all of them hesitated at the bottom of the stairs, standing in a line and staring up at the glass doors. Alice, Claves, Joey, Lucas, Yugi, Hayden, and Seto; they all seemed to freeze on the spot, as if the proximity of the hospital doors had paralyzed them into reconsidering their plans.

"We could just go home. Why do we have to save da smurf anyway?" Joey offered, running a hand through his haphazard hair.

Yugi sighed in response, "I know we don't get along with Mikaila, but we have to help her."

"No, you don't."

A woman with long curly black hair began walking down the stairs toward them, her red and gray eyes hard. She stopped a few feet in front of them, crossing her arms tightly over her chest.

"Scar," Luke breathed, taking a hesitant step toward his girlfriend.

"Don't. Touch me," she said with an angry glare, her red irises looking surprisingly watery.

"What do you mean 'no you don't'?" Hayden asked cautiously, his _heterochromia_ eyes narrowing.

Scarlet gave him a twisted smile as tears began to spill from her eyes, "I mean you don't need to save Mikaila. Vesuvius already killed her."

"What?" Alice breathed out almost silently.

"I said my sister is dead!" The black haired amazon shrieked, her mascara running down her cheeks in dark black streaks. "And it's your fault," she said acidicly as sobs began to escape her throat.

A few bystanders gave Scarlet passing glances and annoyed stares, but no one bothered to ask her what was wrong. She reached into her blazer and pulled out an old tarnished picture frame and tossed it to Alice's feet. The green eyed Shadow stared down at the photograph of her and her parents in front of the Valley of the Kings, the photograph that had once sat on her coffee table.

"Why do you have–"

"I took it when Mikaila and I raided your house. We were looking for any dirty little secrets you might have. She wanted to make you pay for that embarrassment of a duel, but I took the picture so the Master would know what you looked like." Scarlet paused then, hiccupping slightly, "I never got to show it to him though! And by the time I did he had already killed my sister for something you'd done!"

Luke tried to reach out for Scarlet again, but the black haired Shadow hit his hand away. In that moment Alice saw a flash of silver on both Scarlet and Luke's left hands, and she wondered how she could have missed such an obvious thing; however, she didn't have much time to think on it.

Scarlet looked at her with puffy eyes, "You know, she lied for you. Vesuvius asked her right out if she was the girl who had protected Mokuba Kaiba and she said yes. She knew it was you! She told me the entire school knew it had been you! So why the hell did she lie!?"

Alice closed her eyes, having no answer. There had been no kindness, no friendship, between her and Mikaila. The two of them hadn't gotten along, they hadn't even tolerated each other, and yet Mikaila Renewal had felt the need to try and protect her. Alice would never know why, and neither would Scarlet; that secret had died with the black and blue haired girl.

There was silence for minutes before Alice opened her eyes again, and when she did she saw that Luke was holding Scarlet against his chest as she continued to sob. The brunette had never liked Mikaila, or Scarlet for that matter, but that didn't mean she would wish something this awful on them. Slowly she bent at the waist and picked up the tarnished picture frame the black haired Shadow had hurled to the ground.

"Get out of here," Scarlet croaked, looking down at her with a look Alice didn't understand. "Just leave and run as far as you can, don't you dare let my sister's life go to waste."

"You're helpin' us?" Joey asked dumbfounded.

Scarlet turned her ruby eyes on the blonde, her head still resting against Luke. "I'm not helping you, Joseph. I'm just following my idiot sister's lead."

"We can't run." Alice muttered softly, her gaze still fixed on the only family photo she owned. "I'd love to, believe me, but we can't just run. We came to stop Vesuvius, and that's what we're going to do."

Both Shadows stared at each other probingly, red clashing with green, but eventually the red pair faltered as more tears began to fall. "Fine. But you damn well better do it right."

"Of course." Alice said with a nod. She then looked at Luke, "Why don't you take her home? We'll be fine here."

"You sure?" He asked as he stroked Scarlet's hair.

Alice smiled, "Yeah, I'm sure. Family should always come first."

Luke grinned sheepishly in thanks and began pulling Scarlet toward the silver Honda, their twin wedding bands glinting in the early morning light. Alice didn't know when it had happened, but at some point Scarlet and Lucas had gotten married; it gave her just a small bit of hope in the future.

The now six Shadows and duelists entered the hospital, looking around skeptically for some hint of where to go. For the umpteenth time the group paused, stopping in their tracks to consider Vesuvius's location. They didn't have to ponder long before an elder woman and a small cloaked figure appeared and beckoned them over.

"Master Vesuvius awaits you on the roof," Grace informed them with steady gray eyes.

"We'll escort you there," the short female Shadow added.

Seto crossed his arms defiantly, "And are we just to assume that you aren't leading us into a trap?"

Next to him Claves snorted, "It's Vesuvius, of course it's a trap Kaiba."

"… you were more tolerable when you were just a maid." The CEO muttered back with a cruel smirk.

The Shadow grinned in return, "And you were more entertaining when you were just Alice's fanboy, but now really isn't the time to reminisce."

"If you two are quite finished," Grace bit out, "The elevator is this way."

The group made its way through the crowds of doctors and patients to the aged service elevator. Once they were inside, the metal box began its slow ascent and the cloaked Shadow turned to them.

"I'm going to need all of you to leave your cell phones, duel disks, and decks with me… except Red X of course."

Alice shifted her backpack with an uneasy frown. She knew why she was the exception but still felt so vulnerable knowing her friends wouldn't have decks or phones as backup.

"You've got to be kidding Chandra, you think we'll just hand them over?" Claves scoffed lightly, rolling her eyes when the younger Shadow flinched.

"I'm sorry, ma'am." The small blonde mumbled sheepishly.

"Don't apologize to her, she isn't your commander anymore." Grace sneered , "Do as you're told and take their decks."

Chandra hesitantly turned to them, pulling a canvas bag out of her cloak and holding it open. Grudgingly everyone forked over their technology and cards to her. As Hayden placed his deck strap into the bag he looked under Chandra's hood, making eye contact.

"You should leave before this gets ugly," he warned softly. The young blonde averted her gaze to the ground as she shifted the bag to her shoulder.

"She will do no such thing," the red haired woman snapped when Chandra made no reply.

Hayden turned his hypnotic eyes on the elder woman, "If you were wise you'd take your leave as well."

Grace simply scowled in return, glaring pointedly at the elevator doors.

Alice, seeming to understand what her cousin was trying to do, looked at Chandra kindly, "You know, Scarlet already left."

The blonde Shadow's head snapped up, "She did?"

The green eyed girl nodded, ignoring Grace's enraged face. "Lucas took her away so she could calm down someplace safer. She was really upset that Vesuvius killed her sister."

"What?" Chandra exclaimed, dropping the bag that contained their belongings to the elevator floor with a clank. She was suddenly gripping Alice's shoulders with her small hands, her hood sliding down to reveal horror filled blue eyes.

"I… I thought you knew?" Alice muttered with a guilty frown.

Chandra's eyes filmed over with tears and she let go of her, "He didn't. He wouldn't."

"Of course he wouldn't!" Grace interjected, her expression furious.

"I'm sorry Chandra, but he did." Claves said softly, ignoring the disagreeable gray eyed woman.

Baby blue met lavender, "Kaila's really gone?"

"It doesn't matter! She's not important," Grace insistently said in a panic.

"It doesn't matter?" Chandra repeated quietly, her eyes falling to the ground and her tiny hands balling into delicate fists. "How could you say that?"

"I'd watch what you say to her," Hayden warned Grace with a barely hidden smile.

The red headed woman blanched but snarled, "She's a Shadow, she couldn't harm me. And the Master was right to kill the blue haired girl; even this lowly grunt knows that!"

Suddenly with a gasp Grace slumped to the floor, passing out cold. It was obvious Chandra had done something to her, but whatever it was happened so quickly that no one had seen it. Everyone stared at the small blonde Shadow with wide eyes, but she ignored them as she picked the bag up off the floor and offered it to Alice just as the elevator announced its arrival at the roof.

"Here, take these back. And send Vesuvius my greetings," she mumbled softly, her cheeks slightly flushed.

"Thank you," Alice said as she accepted the heavy bag.

Chandra bowed before the doors closed between them, and then Alice was left on the roof with her friends.

"Well that was interesting," Seto commented sarcastically.

Joey nodded, "I gotta agree with Moneybags, you Shadows are defectin' all over the place."

"Nothing breeds disloyalty like murdering a girl's best friend," Claves explained gravely.

"Poor girl," Yugi mumbled sympathetically. "Where do you suppose Vesuvius is, I don't see him."

"Knowing the old geezer, he'll want to make an entrance." Hayden admitted bitterly.

They all waited in expectant silence on the medical facility's roof. The wind began to pick up, sending chills through the group but still nothing happened and no one came.

"Maybe he forgot…" Alice mumbled hopefully.

As if that was his cue the sinister leader of the Shadows stepped out from behind a cooling duct, followed closely by Damien and Jasper. He clapped slowly, mockingly, his face a mask of twisted glee.

"Bravo darling, you really are more of a Pegasus than a Porter after all. Convincing so many of my Shadows to rebel, how very manipulative of you. But tell me, where did you get that bag?"

Alice gave him an empty smile, "Like you said, I'm manipulative; Chandra has left you as well."

Vesuvius's eyebrows raised only fractionally, "Interesting, but not a critical development. Shall we start our duel?"

"I have no reason to duel you anymore. You killed your only leverage," Alice responded calmly. The answering chuckle from Vesuvius had her grinding her teeth together.

"Teenagers these days are so cheeky," the maroon eyed man lamented, "And unobservant as well. You've been surrounded since you left that elevator, girl."

Alice and the others turned around quickly, finding that at least this time the villain was telling the truth. Nigel and Zack were standing in front of the elevator, guns gripped in their hands and pointed in Alice's direction. Slowly everyone raised their hands above their heads in surrender.

"See, trap." Claves mumbled softly to Seto.

"I have eyes," he drawled back.

"You're using guns now?" Alice demanded, turning back around carefully to face Vesuvius.

"I'm an opportunist, darling. I use whatever will help me get my point across." He shrugged with a mocking smile. "Now how about that duel? We wouldn't want your friends to look like swiss cheese, now would we?"

"Fine." Alice declared, dropping her backpack behind her where it landed next the canvas bag. She took a step forward before she noticed Vesuvius wagging his finger at her. "What now?"

"The tablet," he said simply.

Vesuvius reached into his inner vest pocket and pulled out the two other shards. With a lazy flick of his wrist he tossed them off to the side and gestured for her to do the same. Reluctantly Alice complied, retrieving her backpack and pulling out her piece. Vesuvius sneered in response.

"I know you have the card in your deck too, but I think I'll let you keep it. What's a duel without a little pain, hmm? Besides, your cards are no match for the deck I've assembled, you'll need all the help you can get." He said cruelly as his duel disk spun out and powered up. "We're going to duel for it all. Draw your cards."

Alice's only reply was to activate her duel disk and place a monster in defense mode.

Yugi, Joey, Seto, Hayden, and Claves all shifted nervously behind her, unable to help or really move because of the guns pointed at their backs. When Vesuvius said that her cards couldn't stand up to his deck he'd been speaking honestly. With all three Egyptian Gods, Seto's entire Blue Eyes deck, and Joey's Red Eyes it was an unfair fight right from the beginning. In addition, he knew most of Alice's cards and strategies inside and out, so the brunette wasn't off to a good start.

He summoned Joey's Red Eyes after a few turns, smiling viciously as it took out a decent chunk of her lifepoints and left her gasping for air. It took Alice two turns, three trap cards, one magic card, and two monsters but eventually the Red Eyes Black Dragon was sent to the graveyard and everyone sighed in relief.

Alice's victory was short-lived however, it didn't take long for Vesuvius to recover from the minimal damage Alice had caused to his lifepoints. Eventually he was laughing maniacally as he summoned the second stolen card in his deck, the Lord of D. Alice had watched enough of Seto's duels to know what was coming next and she cringed in nervous anticipation.

As the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon took the field and destroyed her monster, Alice realized how quickly the duel had escalated. Not only was one of the most powerful monsters in the game against her, but the air around them had become dry with heat. The brunette swallowed the lump in her throat as she squinted through the suddenly dark light of the sun. She clutched her stomach as a searing pain shot through her from Vesuvius's attack. Even though Alice knew it was Aeris causing these phenomenons and that the Egyptian woman had no control over it, it still left her reeling.

Several turns later Alice was still on the defensive, trying to fend off all of the attacks Vesuvius was throwing at her and attempting to think through the haze of pain in her body. The power in the buildings around them began to fluctuate, lights began to flicker between dim glows and brilliant flashes. Though the power around them seemed to be in a state of chaos, their duel disks continued to function as they normally would.

Alice's lifepoints dropped below 4000 while Vesuvius had lost less than 500. Many of the brunette's old wounds were reopening from the shocks and blows she was receiving. She was beginning to feel light headed from the blood lose. There was a Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon across from her and two other monsters with it… and she had no idea what to do next.

_Aeris? Anytime you feel like helping would be great, _Alice called mentally to her counterpart.

The power blinked out around them, faltering completely for just one instant before coming back to life. Alice felther presence immediately because it was more intense and suffocating than ever before.

_**"I am here. I am always here but I can not converse with you long," **_Aeris warned her gravely.

_Great, what do I do? _Alice asked as she drew her card and began her turn. That was how she defeated the Blue Eyes Ultimate, by contacting Aeris for short bursts until they had worked up a plan.

With the defeat of Seto's greatest dragon, Vesuvius was down to 7000 LP while Alice only had around 2000 LP. With Vesuvius's next turn he had five monsters in play while Alice had just one, but her one was more powerful than all of his others. It wasn't a marvelous place to be standing, but all things considered she was managing. She looked at her uncle and saw him hold a gloved hand to his purple and gray tipped hair. When he pulled his hand away even from the distance she stood Alice could see the blood.

"We could stop. We could end this right here and now. No more bloodshed, no more fighting, no more pain." She tried to reason. "It's dangerous to continue."

"It's dangerous?" Vesuvius echoed maliciously, "We could stop? No my dear, we can not stop, not until the power I rightfully deserve is mine. All of it."

"But this is mad, even for you. The power's been fluctuating in the city for a few minutes now, if we continue this duel you could die. Now I have no love left for you, but I know you love yourself too much to want death." She said evenly.

The maroon eyed man smiled, "It's not just Domino's power that's fluctuating, it's the entire planet's. But you are right on one count, I do love myself a great deal. I have no intention of dying here however, and if you try to end the duel then your friends' lives are forfeit. In order for me to gain possession of the tablet and the card a winner must be declared, and surrender does not count as a win; your lifepoints have to hit zero."

Alice scowled in return and opened her mouth to reply but was silenced by the sound of sirens approaching. The green eyed girl's scowl morphed into a victorious smile as Vesuvius looked over the edge of the building in horror. Police cars swarmed the hospitals' parking lot and filled the alleyway around back.

"What is the meaning of this?" A very enraged Vesuvius demanded.

"Allow me to explain. The police are here to arrest you and your Shadows. We called them before we came here. At first the plan was to evacuate all of the doctors and patients beforehand, that way none of them had a chance of getting hurt during our duel. The plan changed though because we didn't think you would let them leave and you had too many henchmen for us to succeed if you had tried to stop us. So we called the police and told them everything, well everything that was relevant, and they were oh so grateful." She explained evenly.

"They can't arrest me! What gives them the right to think they can take me!?" Vesuvius yelled angrily.

Alice chocked on a laugh, "Fraud, embezzlement, theft, murder, blackmail; take your pick. And it's not just you they're going to arrest, but all the Shadows too."

Vesuvius's eyes widened in understanding, he quickly averted his attention to Zack and Nigel who had dropped their guns to their sides. "What are you doing, idiots!? Keep aim at them!"

"I'm not going to jail again," Nigel said with a shake of his head.

Zack hit the elevator call button and added, "Orange is so not my color."

Jasper and Damien had already made their way over to the other two Shadows, their posture was enough evidence that they felt similar.

"You can not abandon me! I am your master," Vesuvius snarled as he started toward his previous employees.

Nigel raised his gun, leveling it with Vesuvius' head and the purple haired man skidded to a stop. "From where I'm standing, we make the decisions."

"Go with them," Alice said to Claves and Hayden. "Make sure you get all of the innocent people out."

The two made their way over to their old colleagues, looking at them skeptically, wondering if they'd have to help apprehend them once they reached the main floor. Zack's next words removed all worry from their minds however.

"Hell, we'll help you get the doctors and shit out if you don't hand us over." He promised as he hid his gun in the back of his pants.

Alice faintly heard Claves agree to that bargain before the elevator doors closed, leaving her on the roof with Vesuvius, Yugi, Joey, and Seto.

Vesuvius ran a hand through his purple and gray hair, and then turned on Alice with murder in his eyes. "You traitorous bitch!"

"Someone's lost their temper, what happened to calling me darling and dear, Uncle Ves?" The brunette mocked with her new found confidence.

"They can attempt to arrest me if they want, but once this duel ends I will have the card and nothing will stand in my way!" Vesuvius promised savagely.

Alice stared at him incredulously, "You don't get it. This was our plan all along; start a duel with you as a distraction, get the police to show up, and then end the duel before a winner could be declared. That's it. If one of us forfeits the duel you don't get the prize, I knew that, it's like a stalemate. You never even had an opportunity to win. Because I forfeit!" She declared, placing her hand over her duel disk in submission and waiting for the holograms to disappear. Only they didn't. "How…" She gasped.

Across from her Vesuvius smiled tranquilly, his panic from earlier forgotten. "Did you really think that my only insurance was your friends' lives? Have you forgotten that I control a Kaiba Corp. satellite? You physically can not forfeit, your duel disk doesn't register the command. Now, where was I?" He narrated mockingly, "Ah yes, I was about to summon an Egyptian God."

"But you can't!" Yugi pleaded, his voice panicked. "If you try to control them they'll kill you! Only someone with ties to Ancient Egypt can wield a God Card!"

Vesuvius turned his eyes on Yugi and they glinted red instead of maroon, "Who do you think you're speaking to." And then he held up a card, a card that shined red like his eyes.

The holograms of three of his five monsters disappeared and their lights swirled into the card before Vesuvius slammed it down on his duel disk. A blinding flash of white light exploded outward and Alice had to close her eyes from the burn of it. Before she could close them completely she thought she saw two arcs of silvery white wings. When she opened them again they immediately connected with Vesuvius who appeared to be alone, but as her eyes slowly drifted upward she realized how wrong she was.

"Slifer," Joey groaned out, his expression panicked. "Yug, how is dis possible? Tell me dis isn't possible!"

"Apparently it is possible, Wheeler." Seto ground out through clenched teeth as he glared up at the red dragon. "We need to stop this duel."

"Apparently we can't, Kaiba." Joey grumbled back, mirroring his words. "There's nothing we can do, volcano breath made sure Alice couldn't leave the duel."

"I agree with Kaiba, Joey. This duel needs to end before Vesuvius attacks with Slifer or…" Yugi trailed off uncertainly, his wide eyes gazing upward.

"Or what?" The blonde asked hesitantly, not sure if he wanted to know the answer.

Seto grunted, "You saw what a regular Duel Monster attack can do to its target, this is an Egyptian God."

"… dat's not good." Joey stated quietly.

"Yeah, Joey. That's very not good." Yugi mumbled as he watched the first God Card he'd received uncoil and stretch out above Vesuvius menacingly.

Alice had seen the Egyptian Gods hundreds upon thousands of times… on television. The little electronic box did not do the mighty dragon of the sky justice. She could see the curls of smoke coming from its bottom mouth, see the shine of its teeth before it opened its mighty jaws and roared. The brunette's legs trembled in response, but she held her ground. She looked away from the dragon to her side of the field and felt her heart drop further; there were only two monsters out and no spells or traps, and those two monsters were Yugi's Dark Magician Girl in attack mode, and a face down Saggi the Dark Clown.

She could hear her friends talking in panicked voices behind her, trying to find some way for her to get out of what was inevitable. There were hurried footsteps and Alice spun around, sticking her hand out to ward, not one, not two, but all three of them off.

"I can't run away from an Egyptian God's attack, and if any of you try to jump in front of me **I'll never forgive you**_**.**_" Alice warned, her eyes flashing black for but a moment. "I have Aeris, I can withstand an attack, so please back up."

Grudgingly the three boys stepped back until they were only a few steps away from the elevator, their eyes wary. When Alice was sure they wouldn't rush back over to her she turned to Vesuvius.

"Such vibrato, even when faced with an ancient deity. I'm going to enjoy watching you fall," he said with a dreamily light to his eyes.

"You're sick." Alice spat as she braced herself; but really how do you prepare for an attack from something that's the size of a blimp.

Vesuvius's upper lip twitched slightly in disdain, "Slifer, Thunder Force Attack!"

Alice watched in horror and subtle awe as the Dark Magician Girl was hit by the blast, shattering her to pieces. When the shock wave reached Alice she was flung into the air, tumbling around and around until she landed on her right side with a sickening snap. She tried not to voice the intense pain she was feeling, but a tortured scream escaped from her lips.

Seto and the others began barreling toward her to offer their aid. The dazed brunette managed to push herself up with her left arm until she was sitting and then she glared at the boys, causing them to falter.

"I told you to stay back." She sighed quietly, holding her no doubt broken right arm to her chest.

Her three friends grumbled and took only a half step backward in response. Alice tiredly shook her head, figuring that was the best it was going to get. With shaking legs and a throbbing arm, the wobbly Shadow somehow managed to get her footing.

Once she was fully standing and had regained her senses it became obvious that Slifer's mighty attack had knocked out the already fluctuating power. Even though Vesuvius had told her that the power outage was a global event the fearsome red beast still writhed in the sky above him. Alice felt like she should've known that not even a lack of electricity would be able to stop this duel.

During Alice's attempts to reorient herself, Vesuvius took the opening and immediately launched his second monster's attack. There was only just enough time for Alice to activate Negate Attack, saving her from the already initiated attack and the one of Vesuvius's third monster.

With trembling hands she drew her card and placed one spell facedown, no monsters for defense. Vesuvius smiled at her cynically but when he began his turn and Alice yelled "I activate Swords of Revealing Light," he seemed far less pleased with himself; this gave her three turns to figure out how to destroy the ancient dragon.

Alice was down to a meager 1150 LP while Vesuvius still sat comfortably at 7000 LP. Not only that but at the end of his turn there were three extra monsters on his field, not including Slifer, and Alice had a feeling the next God Card was going to make an appearance soon.

In a stroke of pure luck, or maybe it was the heart of the cards, Alice drew Joey's Scapegoats and played it immediately. She had no way to stop Vesuvius from summoning more monsters or bring out the other God cards, so she was just going to have to pray that she drew the card she needed soon.

On the second turn of Swords, just as Alice predicted, Vesuvius sacrificed the three monsters needed to bring out another Egyptian God; Obelisk the Tormentor. In a lot of ways Alice was more frightened of the giant leviathan than the red dragon, so when Obelisk stretched his wings and flexed his gauntlets the overwhelming urge to run flitted through her system. But Alice stayed where she was, more out of obligation then true courage. When she began her turn she drew a useless spell card, but was still able to place Fairywitch in defense mode, giving her 5 things between her and the God cards.

The third and final turn of Swords came around and all Vesuvius did was add one lowly monster to his arsenal, preparing to strike Alice upon his next turn. That moment would have been a wonderful time for Alice to draw Goddess Chaos, but instead she received the Monster Reborn she'd gotten from Seto before the duel; while it was a good card, it wasn't the one she needed in that moment. Alice sighed, doing the only thing she could she ended her turn and watched the protective white-yellow crosses vanish.

Vesuvius smiled at her, "You can't hide from me anymore, darling."

He drew his card and then placed a monster in defense mode, and a card on the field. The action was odd but Alice didn't have time to consider the meaning behind it because his other three monsters lunged forward, taking out three of her Scapegoats. Even though they had all been in defense mode, the blows still seemed to reach Alice, proving how powerful Aeris' effects on duels were now that a satellite was amplifying them. The small brunette hugged her chest as her arms were sliced and bruised by the attack.

Vesuvius ended his turn and Alice breathed a sigh of relief. She was happy that her uncle didn't know most of the God Cards special abilities, that much at least was obvious. She only had one Scapegoat left and her monster in defense, and she was running low on willpower, so she put all her hope into her draw. And got nothing, well, nothing useful. The tired Shadow sighed in partial defeat and put the Witch's Apprentice she had just drawn in defense mode and then ended her turn.

It was Vesuvius's turn again and he drew, giving him two cards as a hand. Alice's eyes narrowed slightly. She had just remembered that he had placed a monster in defense, and a card on the field. He had no need for traps at the moment and by placing those two cards on the field he had decreased Slifer's attack power. Also if he wanted to he could have destroyed at least a Scapegoat instead of placing a monster in defense. Now that she thought about it, why had he destroyed three Scapegoats and left her with an actual monster? All of that was just horrible dueling technique, unless…

Alice's eyes flashed up to meet Vesuvius' and she felt like groaning when they did. It was so obvious, and now it was too late.

"I see you've realized my plan, how very clever of you." He taunted as he activated his face down magic card, Change of Heart, and took control of her Fairywitch. He now had the three extra monsters he needed to summon the final Egyptian God.

"Shit!" Joey yelled as Vesuvius raised Ra's card to the sky and began chanting. "He's going to have three God Cards and Alice only has two monsters left!"

"We know Wheeler, we can count." Seto growled, his trench coat whipping around his ankles from the suddenly fierce wind.

"She can still do this…" Yugi muttered halfheartedly, not truly believing the words himself.

As the wind died down and the final Egyptian God descended from the sky, every person on that roof thought that it was the end for Alice; all but one that is.

Vesuvius grinned manically, "This is splendid, wonderful, almost flawless! Just a little more and it will be the perfect victory."

"Stop gloating and just go." Alice said, her eyes drooping closed in defeat.

"As you wish," he sneered, ordering the three God cards to attack.

One by one Alice's last line of defense was destroyed; Ra destroyed her Witch's Apprentice, Obelisk took out her last Scapegoat, and Slifer began his descent to attack her directly. There was no way she could physically survive his attack when her body was in the state it was in and when her lifepoints were already so low. This would be the end of her, there was no doubt in her mind. She'd sustained blows to the head, chest, legs, and arms over the last month, she'd been cut by numerous knives in various places, and she'd lost more energy than most humans would ever possess in their lifetime. If Slifer's attack didn't tear her to pieces on the spot, she was sure her heart would give out. And it was fitting, in a way; she had been saved by her dragon and it would be the god of all dragons that would end her. Idly she wondered if it would hurt. Most likely it would.

The majestic red dragon swooped down and around Vesuvius before coming straight at her with its jaw open, ready to attack. Alice glanced at the read out on her duel disk to check how many attack points Slifer had and wondering if she would die faster depending on that number. Her fingers skimmed the top card of her deck and tingled in response just as she read Slifer's attack point value. Green eyes widened as she realized her miscalculation and then the mighty dragon's blast reached her.

Alice's lifepoints fell rapidly, but never hit zero. She had 110 LP. The only reason she was still dueling was because Vesuvius had chosen to attack her with Slifer, who had only 1000 attack points, instead of with one of the other God cards. He was playing with her, torturing her by making this duel last longer than it should.

Vesuvius chuckled darkly as she fell to her knees, convulsing and coughing up blood. Her body couldn't handle much more; she knew that, Aeris knew that, and Vesuvius knew that for damn sure which was why he was dragging it out. It was painful, it was frustrating, and it was exactly how the leader of the Shadows wanted the girl to feel.

Yugi, Joey, and Seto held their ground, waiting for Alice to stand back up. They all wanted to run to her but they knew she would just send them back again, using what little energy she had left to ward them off.

When she finally staggered upright, blood trickling down from nearly every part of her body and her right arm hanging at an odd angle, Seto and the others found that they couldn't sigh in relief yet. The duel was still on, and Alice was still in danger. Their friend had only one spell card on the field and less than one fiftieth of the lifepoints she started with. The three duelists shifted uneasily, they'd lost all hope a long time ago. And yet as Alice wiped the blood from her mouth and eyes with her left arm they found their faith rekindled.

The brunette Shadow placed two trembling fingers on her deck and shuddered slightly when electricity pulsed through her broken arm. Her emerald orbs lifted to lock with Vesuvius's maroon irises, "You'll regret not finishing me when you had the chance."

The leader of the Shadows smirked lazily, "I never regret entertainment."

Alice sighed sadly, closing her eyes and drawing the final card of the duel. She knew what the card was, had known for the past few minutes, ever since she checked Slifer's attack points. Slowly she turned the card to face Vesuvius, letting _**her**_ black green eyes open to stare at his horrified face.

**"Do you ever tire of being wrong?"**

Her uncle's face colored to match his hair, the veins in his forehead pulsing as he yelled, "NO! How is that possible? The odds of you drawing that card now are less than astronomical. It can't end with that! I won't let it."

"You don't have a choice." Alice seethed coldly, lowering the card to her side. "You made your decisions a long time ago, a_n_**d now it's time to suffer the consequences."** The small and beaten Shadow then turned to the three teenage boys standing loyally behind her and smiled warmly. "You should leave now. Get off this roof and as far away from the hospital as possible."

"We're not just gunna leave ya!" Joey argued.

"Oh yes we are Wheeler," Seto declared as he and Yugi both clamped a hand on his shoulders and began dragging him toward the emergency staircase.

"Huh? Wait! But why?" The blonde demanded halfheartedly.

"Look at the card Alice drew, if she says we need to go then we should take her advice." Yugi explained as he shoved his best friend through the door and yelled a quick "good luck" to Alice.

Seto stood in the doorway for a moment, staring at her with liquid cobalt eyes, and then he was gone.

Alice turned back to Vesuvius, looking at him like she would a stranger. It was just the two of them standing across from each other now, two relatives that had nothing in common.

"You wouldn't summon her, you've _never_ summoned her." The purple haired man snarled confidently.

"You're right, I've never once played her card. But do you know why?" Alice asked with a tired tilt of her head. "It's because I never wanted to hurt my opponents. I never wanted to be the villain, to be a murderer, to be like you."

Vesuvius's lip curled, "And you think you can do it now? You? Miss self-righteous and oh so pure."

The brunette smiled sadly, "I'm not pure anymore, you made sure of that. I've lied, cheated, stolen; what's one more crime on the list. And as for being self-righteous, you bet I am. It's my duty to end you the only way I can."

"You haven't got any monsters to sacrifice and I know Maximillion must have made that card a ten star monster." Vesuvius pointed out with a sneer.

She nodded, "You're right, Goddess Chaos is a ten star monster, but before she makes her entrance I'll do this first." She then activated her face down card, Seto's Monster Reborn, and brought back Yugi's Dark Magician Girl. Vesuvius opened his mouth to taunt her for her seemingly pointless action, but Alice just shook her head and spoke over him. "And now my old friend will take the field."

She placed Aeris' card on her duel disk and it flashed in recognition. Her uncle's sneer morphed into a tight frown when the ground in front of Alice gave way and a familiar tanned stone began to ascend from the ground. Chained to the Millennium tablet was Aeris, Goddess Chaos, the one card that Vesuvius had been tearing apart the world to find. When the summon was complete Goddess Chaos's points were displayed and Vesuvius began to laugh.

"Zero!? This is the ancient deity that has been so sought after? She doesn't have any attack or defense points! She looks like a broken angel," the older man lamented.

The deity in question raised her black green eyes to Vesuvius, staring past him without expression or comment. Alice ignored her uncle and began to eject cards from her graveyard.

"Goddess Chaos can only be ritual summoned when the player's lifepoints are below 1000. She is placed in defense position with zero attack and defense points until," the brunette explained with a tired sigh, "Until later. She's classified as a Dark, Devine-Beast monster so she is unaffected by any Spell and Trap cards, as well as monster effects. She is also immune to Control Switch, Removal, and Destroying effects, just like the other Devine-Beasts. Her special abilities allow her to attack twice per turn, though not directly at an opponent, and after each attack a monster may be brought back from the opponent's graveyard."

"That's all well and good," Vesuvius interrupted impatiently. "But with zero attack points it doesn't matter that she can attack twice."

"It doesn't matter yet," Alice responded as she finally pulled out the three cards from her graveyard she needed, "But her points can increase and she is switched to attack mode when the ritual is complete. By removing three Dark Spellcasters from my graveyard from play I can release her abilities and restore her statistics."

Master Vesuvius's face crumpled as Alice flashed him the Saggi the Dark Clown, Fairywitch, and Witch's Apprentice she was removing from the game. Once the cards were out of play Goddess Chaos began to thrive with blue electricity that danced like flames, and her eyes glowed their dangerous black green. Her golden white wings stretched outward and the chains that bound her disintegrated instantly. So many anomalies and contradictions took place as Aeris freed herself from her Millennium prison; the ground shook in response as thunder boomed overhead, the air became stagnant with dry heat and fog, the sun shown defiantly through the waves of shadows, and lightning began to strike violently as warm rain hit the frozen rooftop.

When Aeris' feet touched the ground gracefully, without making a sound, the windows of the hospital shattered, as if a sonic boom had occurred, pouring down glass with the rain to the street below. The support structures of the facility began to decay at an alarm rate, buckling under the weight of such a powerful beast.

Aeris stood in front of Alice, her wings refolded behind her back tranquilly and her face a mask of indifference. The leader of the Shadows cowered when faced with the imposing angel of darkness.

Alice gave her old friend a tired smile, "If only the boys could see you now, they wouldn't be able to call you unintimidating."

The Egyptian woman lowered her head slightly, her long black hair falling around her shoulders and hiding her smirking face.**"As amusing as that would no doubt be, I am glad that they are not witness to this."**

The brunette nodded sadly, "Me too." Alice turned back to Vesuvius, "Goddess Chaos is not without her faults; once the first effect is activated the player of her card is forced to activate all the others.

"Aeris has to return to the owner's hand after all opponent's monsters are destroyed, or the duel is declared. For every monster that remains on my opponent's field at the end of the turn, ten cards must be sent from my deck to the graveyard. Lastly if Goddess Chaos is on the field all monsters on my side of the field are forced to attack before I can end my turn, regardless of attack points or lifepoints. So you see, I can't go easy on you even if I wanted to."

"She has more attack points than the Egyptian Gods… that isn't natural." Vesuvius muttered, taking a hesitant step backward.

Alice frowned, "Slifer could have taken down Aeris, but you reduced the mighty sky dragon's attack points so that you could continue to torment me. That was your mistake, not mine. As for her attack points, yes, she does have more. For everyday that Aeris was chained to the Millennium tablet she gains 100 attack points, that's 6500 in case you're too shocked to calculate it yourself. Her defense points are equal to the number of days she remained quiet and placid during her torture times 100, that's 5000. She's deadly, that's for sure. And you've made yourself her enemy."

Vesuvius's eyes widened in terror, he turned to Aeris pleadingly, "I could give you everything you desire if you left the girl and came to me. I would destroy the ancestors of those who imprisoned you, torture them for ever defiling you. The enemy of my enemy is my friend!"

**"Wrong."**Aeris snarled, her eyes glowing red for a brief moment.**"The enemy of my enemy had better start running, because I called dibs."**

The once intimidating leader of the Shadows cowered as Alice ordered the attack on Slifer. Goddess Chaos's eyes closed for a moment, and when they opened again their black green depths glinted with red once more. The blue electricity that clung to her like a second skin pulsed out, wrapping around the red sky dragon and dissolving the beast.

Vesuvius flew backward, nearly falling over the edge and off the roof from the power of Aeris' attack. The purple haired man lay crippled on the ground, blood pooling under his face where it had slammed into the ground. When he finally dragged himself back up he had a broken nose and his left leg was like a useless limp noodle.

Alice swallowed the bile rising in her throat; she hated violence and even though this was necessary it was still taking its toll on her conscience. For all the confidence she faked she felt none of it. The brunette steeled herself and looked at his lifepoint read out. He had taken 5500 points worth of damage, leaving him with a lowly 1500 LP. Already having done the math, Alice knew that Vesuvius's lifepoints would hit zero long before all of her monsters could attack, and yet they would attack anyway because of Aeris' effect.

"With that I can bring back one monster from your graveyard; and I choose Joey's Red Eyes Black Dragon." The green eyed girl whispered quietly.

Goddess Chaos raised her hand and pointed with a single finger to Vesuvius's duel disk, and with a flash of brilliant white light Red Eyes was revived and his card placed on Alice's own duel disk. The brunette then ordered Aeris to attack Ra. The Winged Dragon met Aeris' electric attack with a burst of its own golden energy, but it did no good and Ra disintegrated in a swirl of yellow and blue.

Vesuvius fell to his knees, coughing up blood and heaving desperately for air. His niece cringed, knowing how painful that experience felt. That last attack had taken out 2500 lifepoints, knocking him down to zero with power to spare. Alice grimaced, the duel would continue until she activated all of Goddess Chaos's abilities.

"I bring back Seto's Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon from your graveyard," she croaked, fighting the nausea she was feeling as she watched Vesuvius convulse before her.

The powerful white dragon took the field next to Joey's black dragon, the contrast of the two of them on the same side of a duel was enough to keep Vesuvius from trying to stand.

The building beneath them had already started to crumble and crack from the power of the duel. Several stray bolts of Goddess Chaos's blue electricity had hit more key structure supports. Domino Central Medical Facility wouldn't be standing for much longer, not with Aeris' effects ramping up the destructive force of the duel.

Alice tried to convince herself that she didn't mind torturing the crippled man in front of her, but the traitorous tears that fell from her eyes said different. Angrily she scrubbed them away with the sleeve of Seto's sweatshirt. She'd wanted to be brave and determined during this duel, but she was crumpling under the responsibility of ending Vesuvius. Her body was tired and sore, her mind was foggy and slow; she was fighting just to stay conscious.

Aeris turned her powerful eyes on Alice, **"Just a bit more, child and then you can rest."**

The brunette nodded numbly as more tears fell from her exhausted eyes. She ordered the Blue Eyes Ultimate to destroy the last God Card, Obelisk the Tormentor, and with a clash of white and blue the last of Vesuvius' monsters fell.

With that attack the building under them groaned, shuttering but somehow it remained standing. Vesuvius was a different story however. The man was curled up in a fetal position. Blood ran from his scalp, nose, stomach, and arms, pooling under him in a large red puddle. Alice stared at him with watering eyes.

"Can you not f-finish me?" He asked sincerely; not taunting for once as his maroon eyes began to dull and glaze over.

"I don't want to, but I have no choice. Would you change your ways if I could though?" She asked solemnly, her false vibrato from earlier nowhere to be found.

Vesuvius smiled, blood staining his once white teeth, "No, I'll never change. I'd never even pretend it."

"Then I have to stop you the only way I can," Alice muttered as a chill ran up her spine.

"You know we aren't so different," the broken man confessed. "We're both so very stubborn. We both tried to make our families understand our cause, and we both decided to kill them in the end when they wouldn't."

The brunette didn't even attempt to deny his words as she looked down at her uncle numbly and thick tears continued to roll down her cheeks.

"But the difference between us is that it never affected me; what I did I saw as justice." He admitted proudly, his face still pressed against the hard cement of the roof. "What about you though? When you've killed me can you really not let it affect you? Can you ever look at your friends and not feel guilty for what you've done; will you ever be able to stop thinking about how you murdered your own uncle?"

Alice swallowed the growing lump in her throat from the tears, "No, I won't. But that's already crossed my mind. I understand the consequences now, all of them."

Vesuvius closed his eyes, his face tranquil, "I see. If your resolve is that absolute, then end it."

Alice nodded and hiccupped, wiping her nose across her sleeve before she sent the Dark Magician Girl she'd revived at the start of her turn along with the Red Eyes Black Dragon at the broken man. The blonde magician raised her staff, and the black dragon opened its mouth. The attacks combined in mid air, becoming far more powerful than they should have been. When it connected with its target the building finally gave way and started plummeting toward the ground. The duel was over, but the hospital was still dissolving and breaking around them. The Dark Magician Girl, Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, and Red Eyes Black Dragon all disappeared leaving Alice with Vesuvius and the still present Aeris on the decaying rooftop.

"Get Seto's deck and the tablet shards," the brunette cried frantically to Aeris.

In a streak of shadows the Egyptian woman vanished through the clouds of rubble. Alice frantically pulled her backpack and the canvas bag into her arms. If she didn't get off the roof soon she'd go down with the building. Thankfully Aeris reappeared within seconds and scooped the shell-shocked brunette into her arms. They took off into the afternoon light, the rain and lightning still in full force from Aeris' arrival.

Vesuvius had been right, Alice couldn't face her friends after what she had done. Before the two green eyed women fled the scene they watched as the hospital gave one last groan and collapsed into a pile of rubble, taking the leader of the Shadows with it. And that was how Vesuvius Pegasus died.

[_A/N: __**IMPORTANT! **__There is a poll on my profile that I NEED you guys to vote on! I've already written the epilogue (it takes place a few hours after the duel) but I've had a couple of people ask if I'd write an afterwards as well (meaning a few __**years**__ later). I'd be more than happy to oblige if that's what y'all want. You can wait to do the poll until I post the epilogue if you're not sure. :) Review lovelies!_]


	26. Epilouge: Validation

[_A/N: I've never bribed y'all for reviews or asked for more than your honest opinions if/when you did review, and I'm not going to start now :) **Mostly because it aggravates me when someone else puts 'no new chapter til I get x number of reviews'** Yeah, sometimes I took FOREVER to post a new chapter, and okay so I have some spelling and grammar issues, but I just want to thank all of you for sticking around anyway :) Well here it goes… the final moments of DFAD, maybe._]

***Last Disclaimer, possibly*** (I don't own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" or its characters, plain and simple.)

**NOTE:** [_In this chapter a strikethrough is represented by anything that is in between asterisks because fanfiction doesn't have the option to cross things out and underlining apparently won't work for me; however the strikethrough was needed because... oh you'll find out :)_ ]

**Epilogue: Validation**

"Where is she?" Seto demanded, his face enraged as he stood on the lawn of the Porter Estate.

Sofia clasped her hands tightly in front of her, "I do not know, Signore Kaiba. 'ow many times must I say this?"

He snarled, running a hand through his hair. "How can you not know? You talked to her an hour ago."

"I spoke with 'er on the phone, yes. But all she would say was to come unlock the 'ouse and make sure you got the two bags. She said nothing about where she was going." The Italian woman explained harshly.

"So you have no assumptions about where she was headed? None at all?" The brunette questioned with a tired sigh.

The cook frowned slightly, "No, but I would guess that Signora Alice does not wish to be found."

"Well that's just too damn bad." Seto grumbled as he turned away from the woman and began stalking toward his car with the two bags in tow.

"Signore Kaiba!" Sofia called after him.

The brunette threw the bags into the passenger's seat of his car and turned back to the elder woman. "Yes?"

Alice's caretaker smiled sadly, "I do 'ope you find 'er soon."

Seto grimaced, "Me too."

_~~~DFAD~~~_

When the CEO finally made it back to his house he found the entire geek squad squatting on his lawn with his little brother and the two head Shadows in tow. Grumbling under his breath about useless monkeys, Seto got out of his car and headed for the mansion, deciding to ignore the home invaders. His attempt was in vain however, because they managed to catch up with him before he made it to the door.

"Well did ya find anything, Moneybags?" Joey asked hopefully.

The brunette stopped and turned to him, rolling his eyes. "If I'd found something I wouldn't be here, Wheeler. I went to her house, but the cook didn't know where Alice went either."

"Why would she just disappear like that?" Mokuba asked quietly, his sad eyes on the grass.

"We don't know." Seto ground out angrily as he opened Alice's backpack.

Yugi looked at the billionaire with a disapproving frown before saying to Mokuba, "But we're going to find out."

"That's right," Claves added with a kind smile. "She's only been gone a few hours, so she shouldn't have gone too far."

"I wouldn't count on that, she is quite clever, she could be halfway around the world by now." Hayden commented nonchalantly.

The clover haired woman smacked his shoulder, "Not helping. So what's in the bag, Kaiba?"

Seto pulled out Alice's duel disk and deck, showing it to them, "Now we know why tracking her didn't work. But it looks like she took her phone with her."

"Great, now if she'd just answer it." Duke said dryly.

"Can't we just use the gps in her phone to find her?" Téa suggested hopefully.

"Yeah rich boy, why don't you just hack a satellite and do that gps thing?" Joey asked as he tried to grab the other bag from Kaiba.

The brunette shifted the bag away from the blonde, "Because that takes time mutt, and time is something we don't have."

Silence greeted Seto's statement and the group stood in a tense circle watching Seto go through the canvas bag. He pulled out Yugi's God Cards and Dark Magician Girl, handing them to the multicolor haired boy, he grudgingly gave Joey his Red Eyes Black Dragon back, and then the only thing left in the bag was his Blue Eyes deck, held together with a thin red ribbon, and a small white envelope with his name on it. Seto took his deck out and slid it into his trench coat, and then he stared into the bag skeptically. He had a bad feeling about that damn envelope, but he ignored the urge to throw it away.

As he began opening it Tristan spoke up, "What do you have there?"

"Obviously it's a letter Tristan," Téa answered sarcastically.

"I think he means why is rich boy the only one getting to look at it." Joey clarified as he tried to look around Seto and got elbowed in the face.

"It has his name on it Joey, it's none of our business." Yugi reprimanded his friend, but he too tried to get a better look at the envelope.

Seto turned his back on their curious gazes and demanding questions, he had no idea what was in the envelope that had his name written neatly across it. He did however recognize the handwriting and he felt a strange wave of something akin to nausea swim inside of him. As the small piece of paper slid free of the envelope he took a moment to ensure that he was breathing evenly and that he was showing no outward signs of distress. But the facts were staring him in the face.

Alice had run away, and it didn't seem like she was coming back. She'd left everything in order for all of her friends, made sure that nothing was left undone or said. Seto still had no idea why the fiery brunette had fled, but he knew that the words he was about to read would explain it all, and he was dreading them. He, Seto Kaiba, was afraid to read the departing words of some average eighteen year old girl. So average in fact that she had become the King of Games in less than a month, successfully Shadowed him for over a year, disbanded a ring of thieves and killers that had been around longer than her, and most impressively of all she'd gotten him to admit that not every action can be quantified by hormones and testosterone. With a grimace he unfolded the letter.

_Seto,  
I'm so sorry about this, about everything. Sorry I mislead you *__in the beginning*__ all the time, and sorry that I left the way I did. But most of all I'm sorry about the danger I've put you and Mokuba through. If you're reading this… oh just listen to me, I'm *__acting* __so dramatic, but I suppose that's no different than how I usually am. I've left Domino to head for Egypt. I have to return Aeris to her proper resting place. No one can know *__about her card*__ about the Goddess Chaos or this could happen all over again. I'm leaving you this letter, because honestly I don't have the courage to say these things to you personally. Though I'm going to return the card, ultimately it will be destroyed, and I can't guarantee that I won't go down with it. Also, even if I make it out alright I wouldn't be coming back. I did terrible things in the name of the Shadows, I wish I could forget *__sometimes*__ all the time but I know it's pointless. I killed someone Seto, and not just anyone but my own uncle, my own flesh and blood. Even though it was with good intentions it's still a crime, and I could never face you, Yugi, Mokuba, or any of the others knowing that I'm a murderer. Knowing that I'm just like *__him*__ Vesuvius. And even if I could face you it would take a lot for all of you to forgive me for the things I've done, so I'm not going to ask for forgiveness, I'll make it easier on everyone and just disappear. So before I leave for good I need to say these last two truths. You were my first kiss. Did you know that? Probably not considering the way you kissed me back. When I thought of my first kiss I had always pictured it in some romantic venue with a handsome and blonde prince charming… but instead I got you, and it __was *so much better* __meant so much more because of it. I know it's silly, a silly thing said by a silly girl, but that doesn't stop it from meaning something to me. All the time I spent with you, whether it was in reality or what you thought were just dreams, I will always cherish it. And, I suppose, since I don't plan on returning I might as well tell you now. I know you don't like it when I'm *__too expressive*__ overly emotional, or when I drag out the point, so I'll say it quick and get it done with. I love you. I really honestly do. It wasn't love at first sight, and I severely doubt we're soul mates considering how often I want to kill you, but loving you was *__so easy*__ so natural. I used to think that love was *__a disease*__ a poison, that nothing good came from the sensation, but you and the others showed me differently. I'm in love with you, Seto Kaiba, even though I know you can never return the sentiment. My affection has always sent you running in the other direction. And I know that you must have cared, in some way, to have *__stuck around* __put up with me for so long… but I'm positive that once Aeris' influence is gone you'll be disgusted by the thought of my affection. Now that pushing you away doesn't matter, I thought I'd just tell you, even if it will become a disturbing memory for you. The final reason I'm leaving Domino is to forget about you. That's my final gift, a life free of a meddlesome fangirl. If I have enough time, if I'm away from you long enough, maybe I can get over these feelings, maybe I can stop loving you. I need to recover, to let my heart rest after it's pounded so hard in my chest for the last few months. It's kinda *__sad* __funny, I always pictured that I'd feel better after I confessed, but I feel oddly empty._

There were dried splotches across the paper, smearing the black ink of her delicate handwriting. Seto clutched the paper tightly as he continued to read.

_Sorry, my thoughts got away from me, I didn't mean to ramble. My flight leaves soon, so I'm afraid that my time has finally run out. I know this is a lot to ask, but could you tell Mokuba goodbye for me? I don't deserve to see him again after the cowardice of this letter. I've left everyone's belongings in the bag with this letter, and I hope you'll be able to return them for me too. Again, I'm sorry to put this all on you. Farwell, Seto Kaiba. *__I hope that*__ I promise that we will never cross paths again. I warned you when we first met that things in Shadows have a way of finding themselves in the light… I wonder if you ever realized I was referring to myself.  
~ Alice_

Cold blue eyes stared down at the paper before flitting away as he crumpled up Alice's last letter and shoved it into his trench coat pocket. He schooled his expression, making sure all walls and masks were in place before he turned back to face the others.

"Well ask already." He demanded.

"Umm, did Alice say where she was going?" Téa asked cautiously.

"Yep." He replied shortly, not even looking at the dancer but staring straight at Yugi.

Tristan huffed in response, "Well are you going to share that information with us?"

Seto's eyes narrowed slightly, his expression bored, "No."

"No? What the hell do ya mean no?" Joey demanded, grabbing the front of Seto's trench coat in a fit of rage.

"Joey, let him go!" Yugi pleaded, "I'm sure Kaiba's only keeping it a secret on Alice's behalf."

"Partially." Seto said nonchalantly as he removed Joey's hands from his white trench coat.

"Partially?" Yugi echoed, raising an eyebrow.

"Come on man, don't keep us in the dark." Duke complained, crossing his arms over his chest. "Where is she?"

When Seto said nothing Joey made to grab him again but Yugi stepped in the way.

"Hold on! Not even Kaiba's that cold hearted, he has to have a reason why he isn't telling us." The multicolor haired boy tried to reason. "Can't you tell us anything? If we can't know where she went can you tell us why she left?"

The CEO's responding smile was razor sharp, "To get away from all of us."

"What?" Claves exclaimed, her hopeful expression cracking.

"That doesn't sound like Alice." Hayden muttered quietly, his brows furrowed.

"The hell?" Tristan demanded, looking at Duke for support.

"The hell is right man? What did we do?" Duke lamented as he flung his hands in the air.

Yugi shook his head knowingly, "I have a feeling it wasn't what we did, but what we didn't do or say."

"Oh no." Mokuba mumbled almost inaudibly.

"What do ya mean, Yug?" Joey asked with a tilt of his head.

Seto reclaimed everyone's attention with a dry chuckle, "What the king of dweeb's means is that Alice thinks we all hate her."

Joey's expression became even more confused, "Why would she think dat?"

"Gee, I don't know Wheeler; maybe because one of the last things you said to her was 'We ain't gunna hold it against ya forever, just maybe like a week or so.'" The brunette mocked with a snarl.

"Woah, Kaiba. I was kiddin when I said that, chill out." The blonde said dismissively.

Seto ground his teeth together but turned away from him; so much for staying calm.

"Does Alice really think we hate her?" Mokuba asked his brother, his voice only wavering slightly.

"Not hate her, not yet." Seto sighed as he regained some of his lost composure, "But she seems to think we'll eventually hate her because she killed Vesuvius. She's under the delusion that we care what happened to that second rate lunatic."

Silence greeted the billionaire's comment and he crossed his arms in response and sneered, "Or do you care? Well, is making Alice feel guilty over Vesuvius's death really so important to you?"

"Stop it, Kaiba." Claves insisted, her tone almost as icy as his. "You're being self destructive again."

The group's faces shifted into angry scowls and hurt frowns, but the brunette went on as if he didn't hear his employee's warning or see the expressions on their faces.

"That's it, isn't it; you've already decided you don't care about Alice now that the threat is gone. She was just some tool to you, a means to an end so that you didn't have to get your hands dirty." He said callously.

"Ya know damn well that ain't it, Moneybags!" Joey interrupted defensively.

Seto smirked at having provoked the group, "Then what is it, mutt? You're willing to forgive her next week but not now? What's the difference?"

The blonde looked away guiltily to the ground, having no real reason why he couldn't seem to forgive Alice right away.

The CEO crossed his arms and gave them their ultimatum, "You all love to preach about friendship, but when it comes down to forgiveness you're very quiet. So I'll make it easy on you losers. Forgive her now, or forget about her; those are the only two options available."

"I'll always forgive her," Hayden answered almost automatically.

"There was nothing to ever forgive," Claves voiced confidently.

"She was forgiven a long time ago," Yugi said with a smile.

The rest of the group responded in similar ways until Seto's brother was the only one left. Mokuba continued to stare at the ground non-confrontationally, refusing to give an answer.

When the raven haired boy looked up at his brother the brunette shrugged, "It's your choice kid, no one will make it for you. Do you forgive her?"

"I don't know…" Mokuba shook his head as he trailed off.

"You need to decide now." Seto warned, his eyes glinting slightly.

The teen's amethyst orbs watered in response, "I wanna forgive her Seto, but I can't stop thinking of her as Pegasus' niece."

"Yeah, she is. Kind of like you're my brother," the brunette whispered, his cobalt eyes uncharacteristically soft.

Mokuba blinked rapidly, "I'm your brother? What does that… I'm your brother!" He exclaimed excitedly, his face full of delight. "I forgive her! No doubt, one hundred percent!"

Seto chuckled quietly, "Good. That's all I needed to hear." Then the CEO began walking back to his car.

"Hey! Where are you going, Kaiba?" Yugi yelled after him.

The door to Seto's black and red Koenigsegg CCXR was already up and he was poised to get in. "Didn't we just agree to forgive Alice?"

"Well yes but–" Yugi began but Mokuba cut him off.

"You did that on purpose!" The raven haired teen accused, his mind warring with the idea of being amused and upset. "You made us all feel guilty so we'd forgive Alice before you went to get her!"

"Of course. Guilt is a convenient trick I picked up from you, little brother. I knew there was no way Alice would come back unless all of you dweebs wanted her here." Seto said confidently before smirking that trademarked smirk of his. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be heading to Egypt; I have a damsel to rescue."

"Wait for me, Seto!" Mokuba called as he sprinted for the CCXR.

_~~~DFAD~~~_

It was sheer luck that Alice and her spiritual companion were able to enter the Millennium tomb unobstructed. Word of Vesuvius' demise had spread like wildfire and all of his followers were quick to retreat, leaving the Valley of the Kings unguarded. After years of experience with the tomb, Alice quickly made her way to the hidden chamber.

She walked forward and placed the three shards of Goddess Chaos into a pile where the Millennium tablet originally stood. "Will this even work without the tablet here?"

**"The Millennium tablet was never a part of my creation, merely a bookmark of sorts." **Aeris answered calmly as she walked to stand beside her opposite, the dust swirling around her feet as she moved.

"So this'll work? Once we… I, destroy the tablet and the card you'll vanish?" The brunette verified, her expression torn.

The Egyptian woman shook her head, _**"**_**Since not even Kaiba's satellite survived the duel, these are the last traces of my existence; you have nothing else to be wary of."**

Alice began to cross her arms but winced, her sling getting in the way of the motion. Instead she settled for glaring at the black haired woman, her good hand on her hip. "That isn't what I meant and you know it."

Aeris tilted her head back and stared at the ceiling, _**"**_**Once the ritual is complete you will never see me again, it is inevitable."**

"But you'll be okay, right?" She asked, worrying her lower lip.

Black green eyes met emerald as the two old friends stared at each other without uttering a word. Slowly Alice shook her head, denying the truth of the moment. "We don't have to do this, I could just keep the card and never use it."

**"Like you did before?"** Aeris lamented, her tone far more patronizing than Alice would have liked. _**"**_**As long as I exist in this realm there will be chaos and destruction, it's part of my title."**

"But I don't want you to go," Alice mumbled lamely, her eyes on the floor.

The Egyptian woman placed a comforting hand awkwardly on her shoulder, _**"**_**You will thrive without me, and in return I promise to survive without you."**

Without warning Alice flung herself around the still solid spirit, hugging her tightly with a strength she didn't know she possessed. "I'll miss you, Aeris."

A warm smile uplifted the woman's lips as she returned the younger girl's hug and smoothed her hair affectionately. **"And I you, Alice. But it has to be done."**

The brunette stepped out of the embrace and nodded, "I know."

Together the two women, so opposite and yet so much the same, walked to the altar of the Millennium tablet. Aeris knelt in front of Goddess Chaos' shards as Alice took up her place across from her, kneeling as well.

A dull roar sounded above them, shaking loose sand and coating the women in a fine layer of it. Steadily the rumbling grew louder and louder, and then all too suddenly it stopped. Alice looked to Aeris for an explanation but the winged women looked just as startled as she felt.

"I can't believe this place hasn't collapsed yet," Alice sighed as she ran her good hand along the ancient floor, scattering the fallen dust.

**"It surely will fall with my destruction. This entire tomb will be but a crater of ashes and dust in the end,"** Aeris said solemnly. _**"**_**You must promise me that once your part in this ritual is complete you will leave immediately."**

"I promise," Alice mumbled, as she pulled out Aeris' card and placed it on top of the shards.

The Egyptian woman nodded and held out her hands for Alice to take. Together they began reciting the ancient separation ritual and the familiar electricity surged through both of them. The brunette then renounced the woman in front of her, denying the spirit any part of her being. And the electricity that had become ever present from the day she met Aeris was ripped from her and she gasped.

**"Go, now! Leave before the tomb collapses, I can finish the rest of the ritual myself." **The olive skinned woman cried, her voice wavering from the surge of power running through her body.

Alice squeezed her hands before releasing Aeris completely and heading for the passageway out into the labyrinth. She made it to the exit of the hidden chamber and looked at the winged woman one final time before running from the room.

As Alice made her way through the collapsing tomb she tried to be quick, but her body was not used to having such little energy and power. Without Aeris' presence it was as if she were learning how to walk all over again. She stumbled out of the way as large chunks of rock and sand began falling from the ceiling. Just a little bit more and she would be out of the tomb, just a little bit more and she would be able to keep her promise.

Her breathing was ragged and her legs had the feel of overcooked noodles, but somehow Alice made it out into the cold night air. She continued to run blindly, trying to put as much distance between her and the Valley of the Kings as possible. Just when she began to think that she was in the clear a sound akin to an explosion filled the silent night and a wave of harsh wind and sand sent the girl flying face first over a dune. Sputtering and groaning in pain, Alice righted herself. She stood on her trembling legs and stared back at the tomb she had just left.

Aeris had been right, there was nothing left of the old rock face but a crater of dust. Holding her broken arm in its sling, the brunette bowed low, her long hair touching the ground as she said goodbye to the bravest woman she'd ever met. She'd promised herself she wouldn't cry, but that didn't mean that the green eyed girl wasn't saddened by her loss.

For the past eight years Aeris had been a constant companion, even when the brunette had not wanted her to be. The Egyptian woman had watched over and guided her as she struggled to find the right path. In a lot of ways Alice felt very alone as she straightened out of her bow and stared up at the starry night sky. It was so quiet outside and in her mind that the green eyed girl wondered if she'd ever be able to hear again.

Before she could wallow in her self pity for too long, her cell phone rang insistently. Up to this point Alice had simply ignored all the calls she'd received, in part because she'd been on a twenty-one hour flight. Since it was three in the morning she wondered who would be persistent enough to call this early, but then she remembered it was around two in afternoon back home and sighed, answering the phone after reading the caller id.

"Is there something you need?" She asked, her voice just short of sounding normal.

"It's about time you answered, my dear! You sound dreadful! And rude too, is that anyway to speak to your favorite uncle?" The effeminate voice chastised.

Alice sighed heavily but a small smile graced her lips, "I'm sorry, it's been a long day. Is there something wrong?"

"Does something _have_ to be wrong for me to call?" The man teased lightly.

The brunette rolled her eyes heavenward, "You haven't talked to me in two years, Maximillion."

She received a quiet chuckle from the white haired man, "And over those two years you've developed quite the attitude. Since when am I '_Maximillion_', Ali-cat?"

Alice had forgotten over those two years how much she really liked the older of her mother's brothers. Though the nickname had originally been given to her by her father, Maximillion had taken to using it after his death in memory of him.

"My apologizes." The brunette giggled quietly.

"My apologizes, who?" The creator of Duel Monsters insisted.

"My apologizes… Uncle Maxi." She grumbled almost silently, but still the man heard her.

"Excellent! Back to business then; I've heard the most _delicious_ rumor from a little birdie," Maximillion trilled with a cheerful sigh. "Is it true that my tactless brother really bit the dust?"

A vision of Domino city's hospital crumbling to the ground flashed in front of Alice's eyes. She cleared her suddenly thick throat, "You could say that."

Maximillion whistled low, "Impressive. And you won the duel, yes?"

Alice nodded even though he couldn't see her, "I did."

"And that Kaiba Corporation satellite that spontaneously combusted during the global power outage, that was you as well?" The man asked, a smile in his voice.

"You don't have to sound so pleased, but yes that was mine and Aeris' doing. Your 'little birdie' is very well informed." The brunette said suspiciously, shaking her head at Maximillion's eccentric nature.

"He certainly has his moments," Maximillion said dryly, before exclaiming like a proud parent, "But really, spontaneous combustion! Looks like you really did get the Pegasus flare for the dramatic."

Alice laughed quietly, "Yeah, I guess I did. Listen, Maximil– Uncle Maxi, can we talk later? I'm kind of in Egypt and I'm worried about what my phone bill will look like if I talk with you any longer."

"That's right, you are in Egypt by now…" Maximillion said, trailing off and his voice getting uncharacteristically serious. "Are you handling her absence well?"

"It, it hasn't really sunk in yet." Alice admitted, shivering slightly in the cold night air of the desert. She suddenly got a whiff of coffee and roses through the dry and sandy breeze, but she figured it was her imagination. "But I think I'll be alright, loss is nothing new to me."

"I know it isn't Ali-cat, but promise me you won't shut down again." The white haired man all but pleaded.

Alice thought about the way she'd left her friends and grimaced, "I won't."

"That better not be a lie, Alice." Maximillion threatened darkly.

"It's not!" The brunette exclaimed defensively.

"I beg to differ, I've heard that you don't plan on returning to Domino." The man said sounding disapproving.

"It isn't like that, I just need some time to myself." Alice lied blatantly.

"Alright. Just remember that you're the only family I have left, well you and the Hay-boy." He said with a snort.

"I won't forget," she mumbled with a solemn frown.

"And remember that you're your mother's daughter," he said sternly, before adding with a chuckle, "You really are you know. You and Lotte; always trying to fix everything."

"Okay, geez I'll remember." Alice groaned, though she was smiling again. "Now can we talk some other time, my bill," she reminded him.

"Of course! We can talk all you want later," her uncle gushed, his flamboyant personality back in full swing. "Maybe over a picnic! In Ireland! There's this gorgeous hotel we could stay at, and I hear it's just fab there this time of year. We'll bring Hay-boy too, and you can wear that lovely white dress I bought you a few years ago."

Alice couldn't help but laugh, knowing that it was in the fifties and very damp in Ireland at the moment, _and_ that the white dress she'd worn when she first met Seto was anything but warm; not to mention that the hotel he was talking about had a name she was very familiar with. Sometimes she thought Maximillion acted like an eccentric idiot on purpose just to amuse everyone.

"Alright, alright! Goodbye, Uncle Maxi." She said with a roll of her eyes.

"Goodbye, Ali-cat! Stay safe, and slap around Kaiba-boy for me!" Maximillion ordered before hanging up the phone.

The brunette shook her head, there was no way she could "slap around Kaiba-boy" if she never intended to go back to Domino. She was just beginning to think her uncle may actually be crazy when another strong gust of wind blew in her direction, carrying with it the smell of coffee and roses again. This time Alice stiffened, the gears in her head turning as Maximillion's words really sank in. Who else could be his informant? And what else could that rumbling she'd heard earlier have been. Alice turned around, facing the way the wind was blowing and felt her heart stutter to a stop in her chest. He'd actually followed her.

For a brief second Alice entertained the thought that she was hallucinating, that she'd finally sustained enough head injuries to warrant a pleasant delusion. Or maybe she was seeing a mirage, because there was something surreal about Seto being surrounded by the sands of Egypt. His chestnut hair was styled flawlessly with not a hair out of place. His icy eyes took on a shade of blue that even the deepest parts of the ocean would envy. He was wearing his signature white trench coat number which was fitted to his lean and well muscled body perfectly. He smelled as he always did, of coffee, roses, and expensive cologne, but now it made Alice's stomach clench in nervous anticipation. Everything about the billionaire in that moment seemed almost dream like, even the hint of a smile that was gracing his lips.

But then the reality sank in and Alice realized that mirages don't have a smell, and the beauty of his eyes was muted by the emotionless way they shined. Even his half smile melted into a contemplative smirk.

Despite what had happened in the Valley of the Kings, Alice forgot for one moment that Aeris was no longer with her. The small brunette tried to call upon the spirit's calm demeanor to mask her own emotions, but found her mind all her own. She had no more masks, nowhere to hide or run, she was completely exposed in front of the CEO's piercing blue eyes. And she was panicking.

Alice fidgeted with her sling nervously, staring at the ground in between them. "You weren't supposed to follow me."

Seto crossed his arms, his gaze hard and cold. "I do what I want, remember?"

"Well this is embarrassing," the green eyed girl admitted in a whisper, her cheeks stained red. She felt so stupid for leaving him that letter, for telling him anything that he could possibly have held against her later. Yes, she loved him, but had he really needed to know that? Stupid. He was probably pissed at her for using him, or maybe he was angry that she'd destroyed Goddess Chaos before he could examine it with his computers. Whatever the reason he had no excuse to be in Egypt, so the question was, "Why did you follow me?"

For a moment so brief Alice thought she imagined it the billionaire's eyes narrowed and his mouth thinned, as if he was remembering something unpleasant, and then he explained statically, "You left before Yugi and the geek squad could say a proper goodbye."

"Oh," she responded lamely. "Is that all?" Her voice was just shy of masking her disappointment. What did she have to be disappointed about; _stupid, silly girl._

The brunette opposite her frowned, grimaced really, but said nothing. There was an uncomfortable silence for a beat before Seto reached inside his trench coat and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He held it out for Alice to take, his expression carefully neutral. "Here, this is for you."

As the former Shadow grasped the piece of paper he offered her she felt panic inside her. Was this her letter to him? Was he forcing her to read it aloud? Or would he simply make her look at the words that had broken her heart to write? Or worse, was this his reply!? Her hands were literally trembling as she unfolded the unassuming piece of notebook paper. Once open the trembling in her hands ceased, it was not her letter. She read the first three words on the paper and relaxed further, before tensing for an entirely different reason.

_Ali (Alice) Porter!  
I can't believe you left for Egypt without taking me with you! You know I've always wanted to go there –pouts- And what's this Seto *__keeps ranting*__ said once about you never coming back to Domino!? You can't just leave, we haven't made each other BFF bracelets yet! I know we were really mean to you, but you have to know that we love you and forgive you entirely! I'm sorry for being so stubborn and rude about Pegasus being your uncle. I understand now that you can't control who your family is, I mean look at the *__jerk of a*__ brother I have. After Seto told me you left I realized, with some help, that I was being hypocritical. Can you ever forgive me? When you found out that Mr. I-never-smile was my brother, I told you that the reason I didn't mention it was because I didn't want you thinking of me as "Kaiba's little brother". Now I see that I was thinking of you as "Pegasus' niece" instead of "Ali, my best friend *__and Seto's future wife*"__. Please, please forgive me. Oh! And Yugi and the others say they forgive you too and want you to come back! So we'll be waiting for you at the Kaiba Corp. airfield, because Seto wouldn't let us tag along. If you forgive us please, please come back to us, Ali.  
~Mokie_

_P.S. Seto made me change the parts that are crossed out; but know that he really was ranting, is a jerk, and will marry you later on even if we have to force him to. Also, whatever you said to him in your letter really did the trick, I've never seen my brother blush before! ^_^ Please come home so you can do it some more._

Seto watched Alice intently as she read over Mokuba's carefully written letter. She giggled quietly as she read, her terrified expression melting and the billionaire hoped that his plan was working. He needed that letter to be enough of a push that she would agree immediately to Mokuba's suggestion and come back to Domino. If she didn't, he was confident that nothing he could say would convince her otherwise. The words that might have been able to help were still stuck in his throat, like they had been since he found her in front of the destroyed tomb, and he didn't know if he'd be able to get them out.

She looked up at him when she finished reading, a radiantly gorgeous smile spreading across her lips and her eyes alight with hope and joy. Seto felt a sharp stab akin to pain in his chest and with a start he realized it was jealousy; an emotion he so rarely experienced, and yet it was so encompassing now. Seto was jealous of his own brother, simply because the raven haired boy had managed to make Alice smile despite what she had just been through. The billionaire managed to maintain his indifferent stare, but to be honest he was struggling.

This situation was very difficult for him, not only because he'd never been in such a situation before but also because in the past he never would have cared. Standing in front of the girl who had professed loving him, he had no idea how to reciprocate her feelings, to assure her of her position. It didn't help that she looked so open and vulnerable, no tension coiled her face, just unending trust. Without Aeris' presence her expression was easier to read than Twilight, every emotion spelled out in the colors dancing in her eyes. It made Seto swallow hard, though he doubted that the small girl noticed.

"Why didn't you let the others come with you?" She asked softly. Was it his imagination or had her voice always sounded that sexy?

Discreetly he cleared his throat, "They wouldn't all fit in my jet."

Her eyes widened and she scanned the desert until she found the shining blue dragon that he called his jet. He'd been exceedingly lucky that when he first designed the jet it was made to land on virtually any surface, otherwise the sandy desert terrain would have given him problems.

If it had been any other time Seto probably would have sneered at the shock and awe on Alice's face at just seeing the Blue Eyes White jet. Instead he asked more sharply than he intended, "Are you coming back to Domino or not?"

When she flinched in response he had to resist the urge to snarl. Why did she suddenly think that he was going to attack her? It was so unbearably frustrating! She smiled at a letter from his younger brother, but when speaking to him cowered in fear. Unbelievable. For someone who claimed to be in love with him she sure was keeping her distance.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Alice confessed, her tired eyes suddenly wet.

Seto did snarl this time, "Why not?"

He received an embarrassed smile from the girl, "Well, it's just that I… I need time to recover."

"Recover? You can recover from your injuries in Domino. Now that the Shadows are gone it's safe for you to go to the hospital," the billionaire persuaded lightly. If these were her only arguments then he could snuff them out quickly.

"Those aren't the injuries I was talking about," she mumbled, her eyes returning to the sandy expanse between them.

Seto's teeth clenched together and his hands balled into fists. He was glad, grateful in fact, that Alice was not looking at him in that moment. How she could be so stupid, so unbelievably dense, was beyond his comprehension. There was no way he was going to spell it out for her. It wasn't going to happen.

"What about Mokuba?" He demanded, though the raven haired teen was the least of his concerns at the moment.

"He'll be fine. He's young, I'm sure he can find a new best friend." Alice whispered uncomfortably, hugging her sling to her chest.

"What about Yugi and the dweebs?" The CEO persisted, growing desperate.

The former Shadow smiled sadly, her long brown hair blowing around her dejected face, "They have each other, they'll be alright too."

"Fine." He said almost callously, refusing to be cliché and ask about himself.

"So you'll leave?" She whispered, eyes still refusing to meet his.

The billionaire crossed his arms, sneer firmly in place. "I didn't say that."

Her emerald eyes flashed up to him, pleading that he understand and just go. She opened her mouth before she seemed to realize what she was saying, "Why do you always call Yugi by name?"

"What?" He asked, completely thrown off. A few moments ago she'd do anything to get rid of him and now she wanted to talk about Yugi? If he didn't know any better he'd think that she was stalling for time.

"Well, when you talk about Joey or the others it's always 'Wheeler' or 'idiots' or 'dweebs'; but Yugi's the only one you ever call by name." She explained with a blush, obviously embarrassed that she'd blurted out the question.

"The hell if I know," Seto lamented coldly. "Now are you coming back with me or not, Alice? Or will I have to drag you back?"

She frowned slightly before completely ignoring his questions, "I used to think it was because you secretly wanted to be his friend, but now I've realized it's because you respect him."

Seto didn't respond, his expression incredulous.

Alice managed a smile, "You do respect him, silence and deflection always mean yes."

"… I don't see what this has to do with your return to Domino." Seto stated simply.

"When we first met you called me 'Porter', and I was just like every other person you'd ever met." She explained with an almost wistful sigh, "After some time I became 'doll', and then eventually I earned my name. You started to see me as a person instead of a blank card, you started to respect me. I'm asking you to respect me now, listen to my wishes and just let me be. You don't have to keep pretending to care about me, I know the others will be fine without me."

"And you'll be alright without them?" He questioned cruelly, though the worry he felt was thick in his throat.

"I have to be," she whispered almost silently, large emerald eyes pleading with him to just accept the facts and leave.

He couldn't stand it any longer, he'd finally run out of misdirections and self-control. With sure hands he reached forward and cupped the shocked girl's face, leaning down until his eyes were level with hers.

"I thought you said you loved me." He all but growled out.

"I do," she breathed, her eyes vibrant with liquid green tears. "Which is why I need to get away from you."

Seto took two deep, calming breaths as he ran his thumb along her trembling lower lip. "That's the stupidest thing you've ever said."

The tears in her eyes dissolved slowly, replaced by the familiar emerald fire of determination, "I don't recall asking your opinion on the subject."

"Well maybe you should have." He grumbled, ignoring the sudden clenching in his abdomen. "Maybe you should have told me how you felt directly."

"Maybe I should have?" She asked bitterly. "I love you. I already knew what you'd think about that, so why would I need to ask? Anytime I've ever shown affection besides lust or admitted to feeling something for you, you always change the subject, or find an excuse to not respond at all. Do you have any idea how much that hurts? It was hard enough telling you how I felt in a letter, and you want me to say it to your face? Just let it go, let me go."

Seto didn't respond, he just gazed into her defeated eyes with determined insistence. His penetrating cobalt irises didn't waver once, his callused hands continued to cup her soft face. Alice hated it when he got like this. She was starting to struggle with the urge to just kiss him one last time. Finally she groaned, rolling her eyes and trying to ignore the intense heat that was pooling in her cheeks from being forced to confess like this.

"Fine." She breathed quietly. "I'm in love with you, Seto Kaiba. Every damn moment of the day I struggle with the absurd desire to both slap and kiss you. You drive me insane. I hate that I love you but for some reason Ra only knows I can't stop myself. So, what do you think about that, hmm? Is it alright that I love you? Do I have your permission?"

When he just continued to stare at her with his gorgeous blue eyes, the silence stretching out to an unbearable length, she felt her temper boil. Why would he make her say that, ask that, if he hadn't intended to reply. _Of all the nerve!_

"You see! Just like always, you don't even bother to respond." She ranted, beyond embarrassed that she had actually half expected him to reply this time. Alice was so consumed with her own mortification that she wasn't paying the least bit of attention to the other brunette. So when she heard him chuckle warmly, a sound so amused and dare she say sweet, her confused eyes flashed up to his.

A devilish smirk stretched across his handsome face and his eyes shined with undeniable mirth. If she wasn't so red already from embarrassment, Alice probably would have flushed upon seeing such boyish joy on his face.

"W-what?" She sputtered defensively.

Seto continued to chuckle, brushing stray strands of her hair out of her face before looking at her with soft and serious eyes. "Weren't you the one that said silence and deflection always mean yes? You have no reason to be embarrassed or angry."

The green eyed girl blinked rapidly. What was he saying yes to? She bit her lip and looked away from him when she realized he was giving her permission to be in love with him. Because that wasn't something to be embarrassed about, yeah right! She felt so hot it was like a wild fire had started in her chest. Seto was fine with her loving him, he didn't care. It was ridiculously sad that something that simple could make her so happy. She tried to hide it but the CEO wouldn't let her escape, he turned her gently back to face him.

"Do you understand now? Will you come back to Domino with me?" He asked, his expression oddly vulnerable.

Alice found herself nodding before she had even realized she wanted nothing more than to go back home. He gave her one of his rare smiles, his eyes burning with satisfaction as he let go of her face and began walking toward his jet.

The green eyed girl smiled sweetly after him. She knew it must have been difficult with that ego of his to say what he said, or rather what he didn't say. Sure, he loved tormenting her with his touch but she had always known he thought of it as a purely physical attraction. This proved he cared, at least a little bit, and it was like asking for a stuffed animal and getting a puppy. Maybe everyone else really would like her even though Aeris was gone.

She rushed after him, slipping her hand into his when she caught up. He looked at her from the corner of his eye and the smile on his face morphed into a conceited grin.

"You're being awfully forward, Alice." He mocked, running his other hand through his mused hair.

Alice blushed, stumbling over her own feet in embarrassment. Seto gripped her hand and used his other to catch her waist before she got a mouth full of sand. He pulled her back up and they continued to walk, Alice shuffling her tan combat boots across the uneven sand with obvious caution.

Seto chuckled at her mishap, "You're still so easy to predict."

She scowled up at him, watching as his grin morphed into a full smirk of self-satisfaction. Arrogant bastard. _Like he has any right to be smug! Guess I'll have to knock him down a peg or two,_ Alice thought wickedly as the gears began to turn in her head.

"Seto, I have a question." She mumbled sweetly, hoping that the malevolent edge to her voice wasn't noticeable. Thankfully, the other brunette was still basking in his astounding victory and he didn't hear it.

"If you want to fly the jet the answer's no," he laughed as his winning smirk widened smugly. Alice smiled too. He was so happy that she almost felt bad for what she was about to do… almost.

"No, silly. I love you," she whispered, squeezing his hand gently.

The blue eyed teen quirked an eyebrow and teased, "Is that your question or your new catch phrase?"

The green eyed girl bit her lip and looked away, "I'm working up to my question… but that can be my new catch phrase, if you'd like that."

Seto's eyes widened slightly and his hand became like a vice around hers. "It doesn't matter to me," he said indifferently, though his clenched hands said otherwise. Phase one of her plan: complete.

He was so used to hiding any emotions that contradicted his cold image that he did it on reflex. Even though he wasn't used to expressing such feelings he was about to get a quick crash course: aka phase two.

"Seto?"

"What now?" He grumbled, not really understanding why he was suddenly in a bad mood.

"You love me too, right?" She asked timidly.

The billionaire literally froze, his face growing rigid and his hand reflexively releasing hers so he could cross his arms. They were only a few feet away from the jet, but Seto had nowhere to flee.

Alice looked up at him with a hopeful smile and he grimaced in response, "That's your question? Now really isn't the time to discuss that."

"I disagree. Now is the _perfect_ time for this," she said softly, her voice seductive as she trailed her left hand up his abs.

Seto became like an immortal statue, breathing in shallowly as the siren of a girl trailed her delicate hand across his coiled muscles. Her eyes shined innocently, but her hand continued its sinful torture. The CEO groaned quietly, both thanking and cursing Ra that one of her hands was injured. When her soft hand cupped his right cheek he realized that all her teasing had been a diversion.

She now stood with the tips of her boots touching his, her slim frame inches away from him. Seto noticed far too late that he was leaning down into her hand.

"Do you love me?" She asked again, her voice still rough and sensual.

Seto swallowed hard; the sound of her voice was like sex, the heat of her small hand on his face was unbearably soothing, the look of adoration and lust in her eyes painfully addictive.

"You're blushing, Seto." She giggled with a sly smile.

He stepped away from her quickly, clenching his teeth and shaking his head. _I do not blush_, he wanted to deny, but he could feel the heated blood pooling in his cheeks. So instead he bit out, "I don't see what this has to do with returning to Domino. We should leave now; the dweebs won't wait at Kaiba Corp. airfield forever."

Alice looked up at the moon, laughing softly to herself and perplexing the other brunette. She then turned her amused and triumphant smile on him and said, "You're right, we should go."

Seto raised his eyebrows, having not expected her to comply so easily. She continued to grin up at him until he finally noticed the wicked edge to her smile, but it was too late.

She grasped the back of his neck, threading her fingers through the hair there and pulling a small groan from the CEO. Leaning into him she ghosted her lips over the shell of his ear and whispered, "Besides, I already got the answer I needed. Silence and deflection always mean yes, hmm." And then she kissed his lips chastely before releasing him and skipping away toward the jet. Phase three of Alice's super-awesome-fantastic-super-steller-manipulation plan: complete. Mission accomplished.

She swung herself up onto the jet so she was sitting on the long neck of the dragon before she looked back at the still stunned duelist; in retrospect her plan probably wasn't executed at the best time. Watching him intently, she began to worry when his rigged posture didn't relax.

"Seto?" She called out cautiously.

He moved slowly then, turning to face her with his narrowed eyes the color of frosted sapphires and a tight scowl on his face. She shivered slightly as he began to stalk toward her, not really knowing if he was angry or something else entirely. She got her answer when he grasped her ankles and yanked her down into him.

A gasp escaped Alice's lips before his covered hers hungrily, greedily, and she whimpered quietly. Seto growled low in his throat in response and trapped her in between his body and the jet, being careful not to crush her broken arm between them. She trembled in response. Not even the chilly air of the desert could have created the chills that encased her body as he ran his hands up her body and into her hair, tangling in her messy brown locks. Breathing became a second priority as he ran his tongue along her bottom lip with a needy groan. There was no telling how long they stayed locked together as the tension that had built over the last few days melted away. But when they parted both teens were breathing heavily and Alice's blush had spread to her neck and chest.

Seto slowly let the weak kneed girl slid back down to the ground, caressing the small of her back one last time before pulling away completely. He then smiled smugly, "If you ever do something like that again I'll ensure that you regret it."

Alice nodded quickly in understanding, her good hand over her heart that was threatening to pound through her chest. She understood; that she was going to do that much, much more often, but he didn't need to know that.

The CEO chuckled in response, "Good. Now that that's settled, duel me."

"What?" She asked with a nervous laugh, "What happened to not keeping everyone waiting?"

"They'll survive. Duel me, right now," he demanded, taking a step closer and towering over her as he placed a hand against the jet. "I brought your deck and duel disk. You're still technically the 'King of Games,' a title I plan to win back."

Alice sweat dropped, "You can't be serious Seto, without Aeris you would totally cream me!"

He smirked down at her confidently, "Exactly, I'll win my title back with ease from the Red X that stole it."

Narrowing her eyes Alice pushed against his chest, "I didn't steal it, I just borrowed it to get your attention," she admitted sheepishly. "Besides, Yugi was the King of Games, not you."

Seto set his piercing blue eyes on her, letting his glare speak for itself on the subject of who was the REAL King of Games. Alice winked at him playfully, and he didn't even try to hide his amused smile. "Borrowing means you intend to give it back," he informed her, grasping the hands that were still pressed to his chest.

"Well I was thinking I'd just never duel again and that way I stay undefeated," she teased, sticking her tongue out at him as she tried to pry her hands out of his.

Seto shook his head with a chuckle before he let go and moved past her. Alice stumbled slightly but managed to regain her balance before turning around to find him already getting into the jet.

"That'll never work you know," he informed her sagely, holding his hand out for her to take.

"Oh and why's that?" Alice asked crossly as the wind changed directions and sand swirled all around her, her hair blowing across her face. She tried to fix it but with only one good hand the feat was impossible. She heard a heavy sigh above her before Seto grasped her left arm and hoisted her up into the jet. He sat down in the pilot's seat and moved her into his lap easily. With a soft chuckle he began to run his slim fingers through her hair, fixing the tangled mess for her. She sighed quietly in contempt, resting her head against his chest. When he was finished he pulled up her chin and locked eyes with her; emerald flames to cobalt ice.

"Because Alice, if there's one thing I've realized from all this chaos," he said with a knowing smirk, "It's that we're destined for a duel."

[_A/N: Yay! Someone needed to say the name of the story! Might as well be the sexy Seto Kaiba :d __**IMPORTANT! **__Go vote in the poll! Depending on the results I'll either post an afterward in a week or an A/N saying that there will be none. Thanks, and review!_]


	27. Afterward: Surprises

[_A/N: The results are in and it was unanimous! Thanks so much for taking the poll, I'm sure the other readers are thanking you too! Okay, this is last new thing I'm posting on this. Promise :P_]

***Last Last Disclaimer*** (Ummm, I'm out of clever lines -_- I don't own "Yu-Gi-Oh!")

**Afterward: Surprises**

*** _Four Years Later_ ***

"This way, Mister Devlin, they're waiting for you in the conference room." The secretary of Kaiba Corp. said as she gestured for Duke to follow her.

"Of course they're waiting," Duke laughed with a flick of his perfectly styled hair. "Am I the last to arrive this time?"

"No, sir. As always that pleasure goes to the Industrial Illusions representatives." The young secretary teased lightly.

The green eyed man chuckled with a fond smile at this, "They do always like to make an entrance, don't they?"

The brown eyed woman giggled, "Oh, yes sir!"

As they rode the elevator together to the twenty-seventh floor, Duke realized he'd never actually met this secretary. He was used to being escorted around by an elderly white haired woman, not this youthful red-head. Oh did he ever need to thank Kaiba for having good taste.

"Say beautiful, are you new to Kaiba Corp.? I think I'd remember if you'd led me around before," Duke murmured with a cocky grin.

The secretary flushed, "I've actually been working here for a while; three years now. A close friend of mine recommended me for the job when Mister Kaiba's previous secretary retired. I still feel like every day is my first though."

"Well you're doing a phenomenal job," the president of Black Clown flirted shamelessly.

"I umm, thank you Mister Devlin." She managed to sputter despite her suddenly dazed expression. Yep, he still had it.

When the elevator arrived on the twenty-seventh floor, the secretary led him through the hallways that branched off into smaller meeting rooms. Eventually they reached the largest of them all. She reached out to open the door but Duke stepped in front of her, leaning back against it leisurely.

"Before I go into what's sure to be the most boring and tense meeting of the century, why don't we make some enjoyable plans for tonight? Say dinner?" He whispered suavely.

"Wow." The secretary mumbled, "They were right. You are charming, but a little pushy. You haven't even asked for my name but you want to have dinner with me?"

"More like desert," Duke purred as he reached forward and ran his fingers through her short ginger locks. "But you're right, I should know your name, I'm sure even that would get me through this meeting."

The young woman just stared at him, her eyes incredulous and her mouth slightly gaping open.

"Won't you tell me your name? Give me some hope here," he pleaded, his soft green eyes never leaving her face.

"Amy. I'm Amy," she stammered, her brown eyes wide and innocent.

"Perfect." Duke smiled, "You can announce my arrival now."

The shell shocked secretary hastily fumbled with the door once he moved aside. She ushered him in without making eye contact.

"Pr-President Devlin of Black Clown has arrived." Amy announced to the room.

"Yes, we can see that." Her intimidating boss sneered.

The red head smiled sweetly however, "Just assuring your eyes are still working, sir."

The CEO narrowed said eyes on her, "You can leave now."

"Of course, Mister Kaiba." She giggled with a bow, apparently not the least bit phased by his icy glare.

"Call me sometime, babe!" Duke called after her before the door closed.

"Must you always harass my employees, President Devlin." Kaiba drawled from his seat at the head of the table.

Duke grinned widely as he took a seat across from a purple haired man he barely recognized, "Someone has to give them a good workout, CEO Kaiba."

"Is zhis meeting ever going to get to zhe point?" The pink haired man sitting next to the purple haired man asked rudely.

Kaiba glared in response, "You were only invited upon the request of Industrial Illusions, Zigfreid. In case you've forgotten, you're still on thin ice with not only the police but me as well. It's really in your best interest to stay, but if waiting's such a bother for you, why don't you just leave."

"Perhaps I will, Herr Kaiba." The CEO of Schroeder Corp. said smoothly, flipping his long hair.

"Then I hereby withdraw my invitation. Get out of my meeting." The CEO of Kaiba Corp. said with a lazy wave.

Duke grimaced, he should have known that arriving late would only increase the unpleasantness in the room. It had even reached the point that Kaiba had forgotten his agreement to refer to all members of the conjoint board by their titles. What had started as a collective meeting was turning into a CEO standoff, both men glaring at their hated rival, daring the other to make the next move. If Duke had been more considerate or perhaps a bit more punctual he could have spared them all the tension of the thirty minute wait alone together.

"Dudes, why don't we all just take a breather? I'm sure none of us really want to back out of this partnership." The green eyed man soothed hastily.

"Yeah. My brother didn't really mean it, we don't mind waiting!" Leon added, giving his brother a pleading frown.

The two CEO's exchanged a few more dirty looks before turning away from each other entirely. Duke and Leon breathed out in relief, grinning like idiots at each other. It was a very good thing that Zigfreid had appointed his little brother COO of their company, otherwise Duke didn't know how they'd make it through this. Normally, Mokuba and the Industrial Illusions representatives were present as well to help ease the tension, but Duke knew that the younger Kaiba was preoccupied today, and that one of the II Vice Presidents loved to make an entrance.

Speaking of entrance, he was fairly sure she was about to make hers by the sound of the soft laughter outside the meeting room doors. He looked to Kaiba and saw that he'd made the same observation. The brunette man's head turned to the door and his eyes narrowed. It came as no surprise to Duke when he barked out angrily, "Would you get in here already!"

The door opened in response, revealing Kaiba's flushed secretary and the composed, but smug, Vice President.

"Must you always ruin my fun?" The woman fake pouted, brushing off her knee length black pea coat.

The corner of Seto's mouth twitched in amusement, but other than that Duke noticed his aggravated mask was still in place. Must suck to be him right now. Oh how Duke was going to enjoy watching him squirm.

"Executive Vice President Pegasus of Industrial Illusions has arrived." Amy announced sheepishly.

Kaiba turned his cold blue eyes on his secretary, "Where's the other one?"

"Senior Vice President Pegasus has not arrived yet." She answered quickly, this time avoiding eye contact.

He dismissed her with a nod of his head and the red haired woman hurried from the room. He then turned to the VP, eyeing her up and down before gesturing for her to take a seat on his right.

The woman smirked softly, "Actually, Hayden won't be able to make this meeting so we can begin without him."

She began to make her way across the room, her black ankle boots clacking rhythmically against the tile as her hips swayed sensually. She sat down, swinging off her pea coat and placing it on the back of her seat before crossing one leg over the other and carelessly letting the slit in her gray pencil skirt ride up her thigh. Leaning forward on her elbows she caught Kaiba's eye, making it obvious that she'd noticed him mentally undressing her when she entered the room and that her emerald eyes were currently doing the same. Kaiba ground his teeth together. Damn these meetings. He could never focus.

"You're late." He managed to say tonelessly.

She grinned angelically, fluttering her long eyelashes at him as she played with the neck of her white blouse, "My apologizes Mister Kaiba, I was having lunch with a _very_ important man in my life. He recently told me how loves me and appreciates my support."

This received a vicious smile from the CEO, "I'm surprised any man can tolerate you long enough to be considered important. He's either a fool or a womanizer."

The woman laughed quietly and Seto felt her leg begin to slide up his own. He fought to suppress the shudder that began to work its way up his spine. "You're right; any man who loves me is _both_ a fool and a womanizer."

The blue eyed man had a lewd remark ready to throw back at her but Zigfreid interrupted their witty banter before he had a chance to make it.

"Vell since ve are all here, could ve please get zhis meeting over vith." The pink haired man demanded, trying very hard not to stare at the gorgeous woman he'd only ever spoken with on the phone.

"All work and no play is so very dull; don't you agree, Mister Devlin?" The woman asked smoothly, her emerald eyes smoldering.

Duke grinned widely, "Oh you do know how I love to play with you."

The Vice President giggled softly before turning her bedroom eyes on the disagreeable CEO of Schroeder Corp. "What about you? Don't you want to play with me, Mister von Schroeder?"

Leon coughed pointedly, his cheeks stained red as his older brother's eyes darkened and ghosted over her moist lips, long legs, and slim figure. However Zigfreid's next words contradicted what his expression was saying. "I am here for a business meeting, not to play vith you."

"Pity," the green eyed goddess sighed, twirling a piece of her curled hair that had escaped its clip. "Well then if it's business related I suppose we should hand the gauntlet back over to Kaiba Corp. So, Mister Kaiba, the floor is yours."

"Yes." He answered shortly, his teeth so clenched together that he was surprised it hadn't come out as a hiss. No matter how productive these types of meetings always were, he hated, loathed, that they were accomplished in this kind of way. He tried to ignore the delicate hand that had started to sensually massage his upper thigh. _Fuck._ _How is it possible to be both this furious and turned on!_ He swallowed, hard. "Recently I've been working with Vice President Porter–"

"Pegasus." The woman corrected with a soft squeeze of his thigh.

"Pegasus," he nearly choked, "To come up with a way to incorporate Duel Monsters more effectively into everyday life. Regrettably, this idea requires the cooperation of all of your companies."

"What he means," the brunette woman corrected again, "Is that we're all honored that you would consider partnering with Kaiba Corporation and Industrial Illusions." Kaiba scowled at her as she removed her hand from his leg and placed it innocently on his shoulder. "With the idea that we've worked up, all companies involved would profit greatly."

"Vhat is this idea, Miss Pegasus?" Zigfreid asked politely, far more politely than he normally would have been.

"Well, the entire plan is a tad difficult to explain," she said with a sweet smile that seemed to contradict her seductive demeanor. "But in essence, a school."

"A school?" Duke echoed incredulously.

"More of an Academy," Kaiba stated simply.

The VP of Industrial Illusions frowned, "School, Academy, same thing."

"But what do the rest of us have to do with it?" Leon asked skeptically before his elder brother, and boss, could scoff at the idea. Personally he found the idea both exciting and generous, two words he would never use to describe Seto Kaiba.

"Well the Academy would obviously be owned first and foremost by Kaiba Corporation. Mister Kaiba needed the permission of Industrial Illusions to create an establishment solely for the purpose of training better duelists since Maximillion has the rights to Duel Monsters. Black Clown was brought in for publicity and endorsement purposes; as a rival gaming company, President Devlin has the potential to make the new Academy more prestigious by backing it." She explained with a wink in Duke's direction.

"And vhat about my corporation? Vhat can ve contribute to such an already outrageous plan?" Zigfreid wondered aloud.

The Industrial Illusions representative said nothing. Instead she smiled at Kaiba, silently prodding him into answering the man's question.

With a scowl the billionaire sighed, "We need an island."

The pink haired man raised an eyebrow, "And you vant mine?"

"We want _one_ of yours, CEO von Schroeder." VP Pegasus answered.

"But, doesn't your uncle have lots of islands you could choose from?" Leon muttered almost silently.

The green eyed woman grinned in response, "He does. But you see COO Wilson, by building the Kaiba Corporation Academy on an island owned by Schroeder Corp. we could effectively reestablish your company's name. Not only that but if we all participate in establishing this Academy everyone would benefit from the tremendous amount of publicity."

"Like I said, _CEO von Schroeder_," Kaiba added with a sneer, "We can do this without you, but it's in your best interest to agree."

Leon pursed his lips, hoping his brother wouldn't be needlessly archaic and reject the offer. "Would Schroeder Corp. have a say in the way the Academy would be run?"

"Of course. Every company involved would be able to elect one person to the Board of Governors." The green eyed woman said with a smile.

The purple haired man looked nervously at his brother who was both silent and deep in thought. "Well what do you think?"

"Ve shall consider your proposal," Zigfreid said airily, before smiling widely at the beautiful VP, "And zhen I shall get back to you."

Kaiba scowled in response but the brunette woman simply smiled back, "That's all we ask for."

"Thank you for your understanding," Leon whispered before he and his brother left the meeting room.

As soon as they were gone all three of the remaining occupants let out heavy sighs and then Duke laughed quietly, "That went better than I hoped."

Kaiba smirked slightly in response and the green eyed woman slumped forward in her chair. The black haired man turned a wicked grin on her, "Smooth moves, Alice! Look at you being all calm and collected; and the smoldering temptress stuff at the beginning, genius. You knew right where to hit him, I mean hot damn! Emphasis on the _hot_!"

The green eyed woman's seductive mask crumbled instantly, revealing the blushing and embarrassed girl underneath. She put her head in her hands and groaned, "Duke! I acted like a complete whore! I never want to do that again. I hate you both! And Maximillion. And Hayden too."

"But you did great," Duke argued, placing a comforting hand on her back. "And it's not like this was the first time we used that tactic. Just think, if we had you in all our meetings we'd clean house for sure!"

She whimpered slightly, "But this one was over the top." She looked up to Kaiba with pleading eyes, "Please don't make me do that again, Seto."

The infamous CEO narrowed his eyes on her but she didn't flinch away. Instead she stood up from her seat as if he'd beckoned to her and then she sat down timidly in his lap, grasping the lapel of his white suit and burying her hot face in the crook of his neck, like she was trying to hide there. He gently reached up and cupped the back of her neck with his cool hands, feeling the intense heat that was radiating from her in her embarrassed state. She let out a grateful sigh and his lips twitched slightly in amusement before he turned his icy eyes on the last remaining witness in the room.

"Devlin." He said simply.

"Yeah, Kaiba?" Duke responded with a confused tilt of his head.

"Get out," Seto answered with a smug smile as he reached up and undid the clip holding all of Alice's long hair up.

The black haired man let out an amused chuckle, "Yeah alright, I get it. Didn't wanna watch anyway. That wouldn't be hot or anything. I guess I'll see you both later, you know, at the thing. I've heard Mokuba's been practicing for years, should be good. So… see you then. You know, in a few hours, so you may want to hurry it up."

"Duke!" Alice exclaimed, pushing out of Seto's comfortable embrace to glare at the black haired man.

"Alright, alright! I'm going. Yeesh," Duke laughed before pushing out of the room and leaving the corporate CEO and rival Vice President to their fun.

"You've gotten heavier," Seto said with a smirk when the black haired duelist was safely out of earshot.

"Excuse me!? I have not!" Alice snarled back before looking entirely too self-conscious as she asked, "Have I?"

The blue eyed billionaire chuckled, "No, well yes, but no."

The green eyed woman's face fell and she looked worried as she said, "It's probably because Sofia is our cook now. I can never stop eating her food. Great, now I have to start exercising more."

Seto heard a false note in her words, but didn't call her on it as he chuckled again, "It's only a pound or two, hardly even noticeable."

"Are you lying to make me feel better? Because it's not working," the brunette pouted before resting her head back against his chest.

"Yes, because I lie to people all the time to make them _feel_ better," Seto drawled sarcastically as he ran his fingers through her hair. "Honestly, I wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't sat on me."

"Well we can't all be perfectly toned like you," she huffed as she poked his abs. _Yep, still rock solid. Damn him._

"Alice," he warned darkly when she stopped poking his stomach and started caressing it instead.

The brunette smiled up at him innocently, her hands still ghosting over his chest, "We really should leave now or we'll be late."

"We can be late." He grinned wickedly, his fingers still tangled in her hair.

Alice rolled her eyes and laid her head back against his chest, wiggling around until she found a comfortable spot. She'd felt tired and very weak lately, but it wasn't the time to let Seto know that.

"You really were acting like a whore," he whispered out of the blue.

"Yeah well, you didn't give me much of a choice." She defended quietly, the blush rising in her cheeks again at the mention of her earlier behavior.

"It was effective though," he grudgingly admitted. "Just like the other two times."

"Please don't tell me you're thinking of making Duke's plan permanent? I don't think I can handle doing that every meeting." The green eyed woman whined lightly, shifting nervously on his lap.

Seto winced and said gruffly, "You won't have to."

Alice blinked rapidly and looked up at the billionaire with curious eyes, "Really? But I thought you liked Duke's plan?"

"I did, until I saw it in action, full force." He whispered as he ran his left hand down her side before gently gripping her hip. "It created a few problems."

"Problems?" She asked curiously, turning slightly in his lap to look at him, "What problems?"

Seto narrowed his darkened eyes and asked sardonically, "You really don't know?"

For a moment Alice looked hopelessly lost, but then Seto shifted her in his lap ever so slightly. Understanding lit up her eyes and her ever present blush colored her cheeks.

"I was just going to pretend that was your deck," she said with a small smile.

The blue eyed man smirked in response, running a slim finger along her collarbone, "Since when do I carry my deck in my suit pants."

"Fair point," she sighed as the duelist's lips replaced his finger.

With sure hands the CEO picked up the temptress in his lap and deposited her on the table in front of them, spreading her thighs with his knee and leaning down into her. She leaned back on her hands and moaned as he began to gently suck her neck. Seto grinned wickedly in response.

When her legs finally spread far enough apart, he positioned himself between them, pulling her hips into his and causing her tight skirt to bunch around her waist. He subtly rolled his hips against hers and she gasped in response, her head lolling back. She gripped the front of his suit jacket and pulled his lips away from her neck.

"We can't do this here. Again." She panted out, her eyes alight with both caution and need.

"What was so bad about the last few times," Seto teased seductively, leaning back in and peppering kisses from her ear to her jaw.

"Anyone could walk in and last time I couldn't find," the green eyed woman trailed off with a breathy moan. "Couldn't find my bra."

The blue eyed man chuckled, grasping her thighs and pressing closer to her, "Well this time I won't hide it from you."

"Sadist." Alice accused softly as she wound her arms around his neck.

"Seductress." Seto accused back as he slid his hand to the small of her back and pulled her lips to his.

Both brunette's were so overcome with their own desires and passion that they didn't hear the door to the meeting room open; or the apology that followed; or the uncomfortable cough when they didn't respond; or maybe they just didn't care. If it wasn't for the fact that Seto hated an audience he never would have pulled away from his woman.

"What is it, Amelia?" He grumbled, not taking his eyes off of the panting woman with moist lips and lustful eyes he'd just pulled away from.

"Roland is here for Alice," the red headed secretary mumbled to the ground.

Seto groaned in response, leaning his forehead against Alice's. The green eyed woman threaded her fingers through his hair and sighed.

"Thanks Amy, I'll be down in a moment."

"Of course," she said before hurrying from the room.

The couple pulled apart and began straightening out their clothes, hoping to cover up any evidence of what had almost happened. Once Seto had smoothed out most of the wrinkles in his suit he picked up Alice's discarded coat and held it open for her. Gratefully she slipped into it, buttoning it up to her neck before kissing him on the cheek quickly.

"You are going to be leaving the office soon, right?" She checked as she straightened the tie he had neglected.

"I'll leave as soon as I finish signing the paperwork _you_ left on my desk." He promised as he grasped her waist and kissed her forehead gently.

"You put off signing those papers long enough," Alice teased before pulling away. She grabbed the clip Seto had discarded and began twisting her hair back into place. "Just be sure you aren't late for the ceremony, Mokie'd throw a fit."

"How was he?" Seto asked vaguely, sitting back against the table and crossing his arms.

Alice managed to get the clip back into her hair and then she wrapped her arms around her small frame. "Nervous. He kept muttering under his breath during lunch, I think he was practicing his speech."

"Tch." He sighed, "With how keyed up he's been all month you'd think he had a permanent stutter."

She sighed too, "I know. He just needs to relax and be himself, but he's so worried he'll mess this up."

Seto shrugged, "I suppose we'll just have to hope for the best."

Alice nodded, "Right. Well, I'll see you at the ceremony."

_~~~DFAD~~~_

"Claves! Have you seen my car keys!?" Alice yelled as she stumbled down the stairs, pulling her black pea coat back on hastily.

"They're probably where you left them when you walked through the door an hour ago." The clover haired woman taunted from her seat on the banister.

"But they aren't," the brunette pouted as she started to run a hand through her hair and ended up rumpling it in its clip.

"Well I don't know what I'm supposed to do to help," Claves laughed as she smoothed out her maid outfit.

Emerald eyes narrowed on her, "Gee, I don't know, maybe help me find them!"

The older woman laughed softly and jumped down from her perch, "Did you check your pockets?"

"Of course I checked my… oh. Here they are, heh." Alice said sheepishly.

"See, told you. Now come here, let me fix your hair." Claves said kindly.

As she began to smooth Alice's hair back into its clip Sofia came out of the kitchen, ladle in hand.

"I 'ave made you some soup, il mio amore." The Italian woman announced with a smile.

"Sofia, I've already had lunch and I've gained four pounds in two weeks." The brunette grumbled.

Sofia smiled, "Per'aps it is just muscle?"

"Yeah, and maybe Zigfreid's hair is real." Alice snorted, "I've had the stomach flu for the past month too. I thought you're suppose to lose weight when you're sick… maybe it's all the wedding cake that's caused this."

"By this do you mean your 'flu' or the weight gain? Because I'm pretty sure they're from the same place." Claves teased after she finished Alice's hair.

The brunette scowled at her, "The cake could have caused both. It's been over a month since Mai and Joey's wedding and I'm still eating it. Maybe it went bad."

"Can wedding cake go bad?" Sofia asked, one hand on her hip.

"Who knows, but I need to head out before I'm late for the ceremony." Alice said dismissively as she started heading for the door.

"Oh, Alice!" Claves called, "Scarlet sent us baby shower invites, and it's in a week so we need to get a gift soon."

"Geez another one," the brunette laughed before glancing down at the gold ring on Claves' hand. "You know I'm surprised you and Hayden haven't had one yet."

"Shut up!" The green haired woman sputtered, her face tinged slightly pink.

Alice grinned and leaned her hip against the open door frame, "It's only logical that you'd be next. Everyone around me is either getting married or having kids."

At this Sofia and Claves smiled widely at each other, then the motherly cook asked, "Why giovane donna, are you jealous?"

"What? No!" She denied quickly, before shuffling out the door. "Gotta go, bye!"

Sofia sighed solemnly, "Poor girl."

"They just need some time, Sof. Come on, I'll eat your soup." Claves said as she looped her arm through the cook's.

_~~~DFAD~~~_

Roland dropped her off at the school entrance and she walked hastily to the gymnasium. Once inside she immediately found her group of old friends sitting in the bleachers toward the front, but instead of going to them she turned toward the back and headed to the solitary man leaning against the wall.

"You reprimand me about being on time and you almost miss it yourself." Seto laughed quietly as she took up a spot on the wall next to him.

"Well I'm here aren't I?" The green eyed woman huffed. "Have you seen him yet?"

"No," Seto said with a shake of his head. "But I'm sure he'll come out in a few minutes with the rest of them."

Alice nodded and turned to watch her friends as they talked animatedly to one another. She let out a quiet sigh.

"You know," Seto cleared his throat uncomfortably, "You could go sit with them."

"What and leave you here?" She asked with a roll of her eyes, "Riiight. Besides, I'm a Pegasus now; we're all about making an entrance and at the moment I don't want to steal the spotlight."

The graduating class of Domino High School began filing in after their teachers, so Seto scoffed quietly and whispered, "I really hate that you adopted that last name."

"Need I remind you love, that it adopted me? Besides, if you really had a problem with it," Alice mumbled with a gentle smile, "You'd do something about it."

The CEO scowled, his hand unconsciously patting his coat pocket, but he said nothing as the headmaster of the school announced the start of the graduation ceremony. There were a few more speeches from teachers, administrators, and the salutatorian, but eventually the valedictorian stood behind the podium, looking terribly green in the face. Alice began chewing on her lower lip and Seto slid his hand into hers, giving it a reassuring squeeze before turning his steady gaze back to the stage.

"Hi," the black haired teen squeaked before clearing his throat, "Err, I mean hello. I'm Mokuba Kaiba… but everyone probably already knew that because of your programs. Heh."

Alice's hand tightened like a vice around Seto's and he actually winced at the pressure. He began drawing small, soothing circles on the back of her hand with his thumb and her grip relaxed infinitesimally.

"Umm, as you can tell I didn't get the motivational speaker genes… though if you've ever talked to my brother or listened to his graduation speech from four years ago you'd know he didn't either." There were quiet laughs throughout the crowd and Mokuba smiled hopefully.

"These three years we've spent together at Domino High have been a lesson to all of us; lessons in patience and kindness, as well as crash courses in actual classes. We've learned so much in such a short amount of time, and I know that it will help us in the years to come. And what great lives we have ahead of us! Our destinies are all shining brightly out there, waiting for us; thanks to the skills we've gained here.

"However, it isn't the skills we're good at that define us, or even the skills we're bad at, but what we choose to do with our skills. Our lives are given meaning by the challenges that we strive to overcome. For some of us graduating was a challenge, and for others it was easier than beating Joey Wheeler in a duel–"

"'Ey!" The blonde exclaimed from the bleachers.

Mokuba laughed happily along with the crowed, "But what I'm trying to get at is that even if our skill sets aren't that great, there's still a future out there for every one of us. We're all still destined to find our calling.

"Some may be destined for a business career, while others for military service, or even a job pursuing the arts, but we're all destined for something… I even know a few people who were destined for a duel," he said with a wicked smile aimed at the back of the gym.

Alice laughed quietly, glancing up at Seto with a fond smile while he scowled deeply in return; that had probably been the lamest thing he'd ever said and _no one_ would ever let him live it down.

"But whatever the future has in store for you, wherever you end up in life, know that your friends will always be there for you, long after your skills have faded. Thank you, and enjoy the rest of the graduation." The raven haired teen said with a bow.

"He did brilliantly," Alice breathed with a radiant smile as Mokuba retook his seat.

"Short and to the point, like it should be." Seto agreed.

The rest of the ceremony was monotonous, with the usual amount of people tripping on their gowns and trying to show off when presented with their diplomas, but eventually it was called to an end and the graduating class dispersed.

"How are we going to be able to find Mokie in this sea of blue?" Alice worried aloud.

"I'll go find him. Why don't you go wait with them?" Seto recommended as he pushed off the wall casually and nodded toward where Joey was throwing a fit.

"Seriously?" She asked skeptically, "You want me to go talk to one of your dueling rivals and the 'geek squad'?"

Seto grinned sardonically, "Need I remind you that you're my rival as well?"

Alice smiled sheepishly, "I suppose I am."

"Plus finding Wheeler in a crowd is easy because of the obnoxious aura he gives off." The billionaire sneered.

"Be nice." Alice commanded with narrowed eyes before she and Seto parted ways.

Before she had even made it halfway across the gym Joey spotted her and sprinted the rest of the distance. He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off the ground, spinning her around and around, as if he hadn't seen her in years.

"Joey!" Alice gasped, "Can't. Breathe."

"Oh, heh. Sorry, Alice." The blonde carefully put her down at about the time the rest of the gang made it to them.

"Hi Alice," Tristan said with a wide smile, but his smile faltered as her face became very pale. "Are you okay? You look like you're going to vomit…"

The small brunette gently held onto her stomach, a wary grin on her lips. "I'll be alright, it's nothing."

Duke looked her over, "You seemed fine an hour ago, but now you look like you're coming down with something." The green eyed man turned to the blonde and smacked him on the head, "Way to go dude, you sickened her with your mere presence."

Alice shook her head gently, "It's not Joey's fault, I've actually had the stomach flu for the last month or so and I guess I haven't completely recovered yet."

Mai eyed her skeptically, one hand on her hip as she said, "Normally the stomach flu goes away after a week, you sure that's what it is?"

"No," the brunette admitted sheepishly. "I don't like hospitals or Seto's physicians so I'm just guessing. But I'd bet anything it was _your_ month old wedding cake that did this to me!"

Joey grinned widely in response, like he usually did when anyone mentioned his marriage to Mai, and the other blonde rolled her eyes heavenward. "Hun, how is it my fault that you're eating that junk?"

"Because you gave it to me," Alice answered with a scowl.

"Because I didn't want to keep all of it and end up going up four dress sizes," Mai laughed, "You didn't have to take it all yourself."

"But I like cake…" she defended weakly.

Mai raised an eyebrow, "Enough to keep eating it even though you've gotten sick. If you don't throw that cake out you'll get even worse and run the risk of gaining a few pounds."

Alice's face fell, "I already have. Seto called me fat this afternoon."

"Really?" Duke asked with a laugh, "Was that after you sat on him? Haha! Oh man that's…" The black haired man trailed off when he saw everyone's disapproving glares, "Not cool. Definitely not cool. I mean clearly you're not fat. Clearly."

"Idiot." Mai accused with a flip of her long hair. "Anyway honey, you don't need to worry. Girls gain and lose weight off and on all the time. I mean Téa's weight has been fluctuating like crazy recently."

"That's because she's in Europe touring with that dance group," Alice said with a roll of her eyes. "By the way how are her and Yugi doing?"

Tristan grinned at this, "Well technically it would be how is she… and Yugi doing, since they aren't together; but isn't it just too convenient that they ended up touring Europe at the same time?

Duke chuckled deeply, "Especially when the King of Games makes his own schedules."

Joey laughed heartily along with him, "Yeah, Yug even bought an engagement ring before he left for the International Duelists convention."

"Oh!" Alice exclaimed with a smile, "That's great!"

"Now if he'd just grow a pair and ask," Duke teased.

"Sounds like someone else we know," Mai added as she nudged Alice with her shoulder playfully. The brunette scowled.

"Okay. Let's get something straight. We don't want to get married!"

"Uh-huh." The group said sarcastically.

"Really! It's just not something he… we," she corrected with an annoyed frown when they grinned at her, "Want to do."

"Right. Because you two always agree on everything," Mai countered in a deadpan voice.

"Well we agree on this," Alice declared with her nose in the air and her arms crossed stubbornly.

"Al, just admit you want to marry the pompous jackass." Duke scoffed as he twirled a lock of his black hair. "It won't kill you."

"I don't want to marry him!" Alice growled in exasperation, followed by an uncomfortable sigh, "I mean, I would want to marry him, if we were into that sort of thing."

"You're full of something, and it ain't cake hun."

The green eyed woman sighed in defeat, cradling her stomach as another wave of nausea swept over her. She hated this damn morning sickness. It wasn't even morning! And what she hated more than that was that she was still lying to everyone because she hadn't figured out how to tell Seto. Claves had figured it out, and she'd already told Mokuba, but that was only a small comfort to her.

"You're looking green again, Alice. Shouldn't you be in bed or somethin?" Joey asked, putting his hand to her forehead gently.

"No, I needed to come and support Mokie. Besides, this stomach bug is inconsistent, one minute I feel fine and the next my lunch is making a comeback." Alice said nonchalantly, grateful that after hours of rehearsing her "stomach flu and wedding cake" story it was finally starting to sound genuine.

"Gross." Tristan muttered with a wrinkled nose.

"Yeah, didn't need to know that Al." Duke agreed, looking a little green himself.

"Sorry." The brunette muttered sheepishly, her hands making soothing circles on her belly.

"I needed to know that." Mai declared with a girlish laugh.

"Uh, Mai?" Joey asked skeptically, but the blonde continued to giggle as she leaned against her husband.

"Oh, my Ra. It is sooo obvious! I mean come on." The purple eyed woman gushed. "Stomach pains, nausea, gaining weight, her ridiculous moodiness!"

"I am not moody!" Alice denied quickly in a panic.

"Fine, you're right, you're always like that." Mai countered with a laugh, "But the rest of it can only mean one thing! You're pregnant!"

"What!? How does that even make sense?" Alice demanded nervously.

"Ha! Oh damn, you're right Mai. She's totally preggers." Duke laughed.

"I am not!" The brunette snarled.

"But Alice, it makes more sense than having the stomach flu for over a month." Tristan tried to reason.

"But that doesn't mean I'm pregnant." She grumbled, already losing her patience because she knew they were right. "Joey, help me out here."

The other blonde stared at her for a minute blankly before his cheeks flamed red, "She's right guys, there's no way she could be pregnant cause there's no way Moneybags has a sex drive!"

Alice's face reddened as well as she muttered, "I wouldn't say that."

The group howled with laughter as Joey sputtered angrily and Alice flushed to the point that she looked like Christmas. They didn't care how loud they were being or who heard because this was one of the best opportunities for comedic gold they'd had in a long time.

"So you admit it could happen?" Duke teased relentlessly.

"No! Well yes," Alice huffed, beginning to lose track of when she was supposed to lie.

"When was your last period?" Mai demanded.

The Vice President of Industrial Illusions stood absolutely still, her eyes wide, before she shook her head in denial, "It doesn't matter."

"Of course it matters! There's gunna be a little Kaiba soon. I better be a bridesmaid in your wedding, it's only fair." Mai declared happily.

"Whoa, just because I'm pregnant," Alice said with a scowl at her giddy friends. "Doesn't mean there's going to be a wedding. Seto doesn't want to get married, and he probably wouldn't even want to be a father."

"So you admit you're pregnant?" Mai verified with a wicked smile, her eyes darting around the room quickly before settling on Alice's face smugly.

The brunette crinkled her eyebrows in disdain at having been caught in such a childish way. She sighed however and smiled timidly, "Yes, I'm pregnant."

Tristan stared at Mai incredulously before the bodacious blonde elbowed him in the ribs, spurring him to play along. "Err, do you want to be pregnant?"

Alice's cheeks turned a light pink, "I hadn't really ever thought about it until it happened."

"That's not a real answer," Mai responded in a singsong voice.

"Yes, okay. Geez." She mumbled, gently caressing her stomach.

"And you want to marry Kaiba too, right?" Duke pressed, his eyes just as mischievous as Mai's.

"No, I'm not the marrying type." Alice denied with a gentle shake of her head.

"Are you sure? I saw how fangirly you were at my wedding." Mai insisted.

The brunette scowled again, "Alright, I wouldn't mind marrying Seto."

Joey scowled back and asked reluctantly, "Then why don't you?"

"Because I'm pregnant, Joey! I don't want to back him into a corner and force him to do something that is clearly outside his comfort zone. I already have to tell him about the baby, I can't handle the stress of admitting that I've always wanted to marry him too. I mean Ra! Can you imagine the look on his face if I told him both at the same time?" Alice fretted nervously, her eyes darting between her friends.

Mai smiled triumphantly, looking over Alice's shoulder as she said, "We don't have to imagine."

Alice's eyes widened instantly, and then she closed them in defeat. She prepared herself for the anger, or the indifference, or the coldness, or whatever mask Seto was going to use after hearing the two giant secrets she'd been keeping from him.

When she faced him she looked first at Mokuba, thankful that there was at least one Kaiba who was happy about her announcement. And then she looked to Seto. Her eyes trailed over his thin pressed lips, his blank eyes, and the firm set of his jaw. Indifference won.

"We're leaving." He announced sharply before turning and walking out of the gym, leaving Mokuba and Alice behind.

She sighed gently, and turned back to her friends. "Was that really necessary? I didn't need any help telling him."

"Oh we weren't helping you," Duke said with cocky grin.

"Clearly," she grumbled before hugging the mischievous jerk. Once she was done saying goodbye to her treacherous friends she looked at Mokuba, "We better get going before he decides to leave without us."

The raven haired teen was still grinning full force as he thanked everyone for coming to watch him graduate and they made their way out of the school.

"You can stop smiling now," Alice said bitterly as she shoved Mokuba gently. "I know you got what you wanted for your graduation present, but there's no need to rub it in."

The amethyst eyed teen laughed heartily, "Sorry, I just can't get over how perfect Seto's reaction was."

"Oh yeah, indifference is a real funny thing." She grumbled.

Mokuba continued to smile, "Oh just you wait."

When they reached the front doors of the school the limo became visible, complete with the stony CEO who stood waiting just outside it for them with his arms crossed.

"I have a feeling I won't have to," Alice sighed quietly to her best friend before they got into the limo. And then the dragon descended.

"When were you going to tell me?" He demanded in monotone, his ice blue eyes drilling into her.

"Eventually, I promise. I just didn't want to ruin Mokuba's graduation with this drama," she reasoned, reaching out her hand to grasp his. He pulled away. _Ouch._

"Come on, Seto. Cut her a break," Mokuba said with a scoff.

He narrowed his eyes on his brother, "Headphones. Now."

"Ahh, seriously? I'm seventeen bro, I think I can handle–"

"Now." Seto snarled harshly.

The raven haired teen grumbled, "Fine."

Once the headphones were safely over his ears Seto rounded on Alice again. "When?"

"I was going to tell you about the baby tonight." She admitted to the floor.

"And the fact you want to get married? When were you going to mention that?" He demanded roughly.

Alice bit her lower lip, "Never."

Seto's eyebrows raised infinitesimally, though Alice didn't know it since her eyes were trained on the floor. "Never? You were just going to keep your mouth shut your entire life?"

She nodded solemnly, "That was the plan."

He sighed and turned away from her, "Why?"

"Because I didn't think it was that big of a deal. I want to marry you, but not if it costs us what we already have." She explained gently, trying again to take his hand and this time he allowed it.

Without preamble he took out his cell phone and handed it to her. She stared at it for a minute before looking up at him with curious eyes, "And what is this for?"

Seto coughed, and Alice smiled gently when she noticed that there was a tinge of pink across his cheekbones.

"Call your friend Father David, we'll be needing him." He said simply, his gorgeous blue eyes never leaving their intertwined hands.

The green eyed woman blinked rapidly, her cheeks beginning to heat up as well. "Did you… did you just ask me to marry you?"

"It's more like he told you," Mokuba laughed from his seat, eyeing the pair of them from the corner of his eye as they blushed profusely.

"Mokuba! You aren't supposed to be listening," Alice scolded halfheartedly.

The teen snorted, pulling off the headphones that clearly hadn't been turned on, "And since when have I done what I'm told?"

"Fair point," she said sticking her tongue out at him.

"Right then! Roland," Mokuba yelled to the driver. "Take us to Father David's church! My big brother's finally getting married. Oh! Does this mean I get to be the Best Man _and_ the Maid of Honor?"

Alice laughed lightly, resting her head against Seto's shoulder, "Slow down, Mokie. We still have to get rings and whatnot first."

She felt Seto tense under her and watched as Mokuba grinned wickedly, "Oh Ali, so naïve. He's had the rings for years."

"What?" She asked with a giddy laugh, looking up at the man in question, "Really?"

Seto shrugged nonchalantly, patting his trench coat pocket where the rings were obviously kept. "It was just in case you went insane and decided you wanted to marry me."

"That's just his excuse," Mokuba laughed. "Secretly he's always wanted to get married, and have a million kids, and live in a small house in the woods, and make toys for a living; it says so on his interest page on Facebook… then again I made that page."

_~~~DFAD~~~_

"Are you sure it's okay? Getting married like this without telling anyone?" Alice asked again for the hundredth time as they stood at the altar.

Seto smirked at her, "Didn't I hear you tell Téa a year ago that if you got married you'd want a small wedding?"

She smiled slightly, "I knew you were eavesdropping. Small weddings are one thing, having Mokie as our only witness is another."

"There's Father David too," the raven haired teen chimed in from one of the pews where he was stretched out leisurely, waiting for the priest to arrive.

"Yeah, when he gets here. But I feel like it won't be official unless the gang's here too." she muttered quietly.

"Come on, Seto. We could at least put it off a little longer. She's already agreed to marry you, and I can keep her from running away in the meantime." Mokuba laughed with a waggle of his eyebrows.

Seto groaned deeply, "If we wait any longer the blonde diva Wheeler married is going to force Alice to do this wedding her way; white dress, tuxedos, thousands of people, reporters, cake; traditions and all."

Alice grimaced slightly, "Maybe we should just do it as soon as Father David gets here."

"Come on guys, not all the traditions are bad! What about the something old, something new thing? We could do that," Mokuba declared happily.

Alice mouthed "We?" to Seto who openly rolled his eyes.

The raven haired teen looked between the two brunettes, "It'll be fun! I know," he exclaimed as he began taking off his school blazer. "Here, Ali. This can be your borrowed and blue thing; you can wear it like a cape!"

Seto rolled his eyes again; even though his brother was technically an adult he still had the same mannerism as when he was thirteen. They'd discussed this already, countless times. If Alice wanted to have a small wedding then that was what she'd get. None of the silly traditions, and something as childish as a cape wouldn't appeal to…

_Or not_, Seto thought with an amused smirk as the brunette in question reached out and took the offered jacket.

She smiled gently, "I have always wanted a cape."

"Exactly!" Mokuba exclaimed. "Take off your coat and we'll start from there."

The billionaire shook his head as he watched Alice replace her black pea coat with Mokuba's blue blazer on her shoulders, neglecting the arm holes. "I feel ridiculous."

"It looks great though, it's a good thing you didn't change into jeans for my graduation," Mokuba said kindly as he looked over her gray pencil skirt, white blouse, and black ankle boots. "The blue cape just completes it. Now we just need your something old and new."

Father David walked in then, "I'm here. I got your message! I always hoped I'd get to perform your ceremony. Oh… are you wearing a cape?"

Alice grinned shyly, "Mokuba's idea. I need something old and new still since this is my borrowed and blue."

"How appropriate, well I hope you can come up with something soon." He laughed gently.

"We don't have to come up with something," Seto said with an evil grin.

"Eh? Why's that?" The bride asked with a curious tilt of her head.

The groom continued to grin malevolently as he turned to face his suddenly blushing little brother.

"No, absolutely not." Mokuba nearly growled.

"You'll have to give it to her eventually." Seto mocked openly.

Even after all these years Alice still didn't like being left out of their cryptic we're-brother-and-instantly-know-what-bizarre-thing-the-other-is-talking-about thing. She crossed her arms, "Explain."

Both Kaiba brothers turned to face her and she was hit by the irony of the situation. It seemed that they had switched facial expressions for the day; Seto was looking beyond amused with himself while Mokuba was scowling deeply.

"It's supposed to be her birthday present, Seto." The teen complained while he eyed his best friend uneasily.

"You also said it would be perfect for a wedding tradition, didn't you? As I recall from all the bragging, your exact words were 'The gift I'm making for her is both old and new. If only it were borrowed and blue, then it'd make the perfect wedding accessory.'" The CEO pressed smugly.

When the younger Kaiba didn't respond Alice asked softly, "Mokie, would this present work for the tradition?"

He flushed again, "Yeah… I suppose I could give it to you as wedding gift instead, but you'd have to wait while I go get it."

Alice turned to Seto and the couple shared a look, not a word spoken, and then the former Shadow smiled brightly, "We'll wait for you to come back with it."

Mokuba didn't need to be told twice, he hurried from the church and presumably to get the last piece for the wedding tradition. Seto sighed heavily and sat down in the front pew, gesturing that Alice should do the same.

"Is this tradition really that important?" He questioned curiously, looking at both his bride to be and the priest.

It was the holy man who answered, "It's more of a superstition, meant to bring luck to the couple."

Alice shook her head, "In other words, no, but Mokuba was so thrilled about it that I couldn't reject it."

Seto frowned, "It's our wedding not his. You're spoiling him."

"Like I don't spoil you," she countered with a wink. "Besides, it's not like I'm demanding a sixpence to put in my shoe."

Both men proceeded to look a bit baffled at her words, looking at each other and then back to her.

"A what?" Seto finally asked.

She rolled her eyes, "I guess it shouldn't be surprising, it's really more of a British custom anyway. The whole saying is 'something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, a sixpence in your shoe'. It's a coin that the bride would put in her shoe before the ceremony for extra luck."

"Wouldn't that be uncomfortable?" Seto asked with a quirk of an eyebrow.

She grinned, "Yeah probably, guess it's a good thing I don't have one."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence before Alice muttered, "I still can't believe we're doing this."

"We've been having sex and living together for four years, it doesn't change much." The CEO commented nonchalantly.

"Seto!" She exclaimed quietly, "Not in front of Father David."

He grinned wickedly, slipping his arm around her waist and placing his lips to her ear. Gently he brushed said lips along the shell of her ear, before whispering gruffly, "You know, I've never done it in a church before. Wanna be my first?"

Instead of scolding him she giggled almost silently, grasping his hand that was slowly drawing circles on her stomach. "Behave. We have to set a good example for the baby."

Seto pulled away instantly without argument or complaint, straightening out his trench coat as a strange look crossed his face. "How long have you been pregnant?"

"A little over a month… why?" She asked cautiously.

He shook his head, "It's nothing. I'm just surprised I didn't notice any of the signs."

Alice frowned, "You noticed I'd gained weight."

Seto smirked wickedly, "So I did."

"Listen, Seto I need to know; are you just marrying me because of the baby?" She asked nervously.

"No." He responded shortly.

Alice looked up at him with her wide emerald eyes, "Then why are you marrying me?"

Seto glared at her with his sapphire eyes in return, "I'm not going to spell it out for you."

"You never do." She huffed as Mokuba came bustling back into the room.

"Got it!" He exclaimed, his hands cupped in front of him.

"Good." Seto said as he rose from the pew and helped Alice to her feet. "Give it to her so we can get this thing done."

The green eyed woman worried her lower lip. It didn't seem like Seto was really all that keen on getting married, maybe she should just stop "this thing" before it progressed any further. That was what she thought until she saw what was cupped in Mokuba's hands.

"Oh sweet Slifer, it's gorgeous!" She gasped, reaching out to take the object. "You made this!?"

It was a necklace made of the thin, old red ribbon she wore in her hair during high school. She'd given the ribbon to Seto when she'd returned his deck and somehow it had wound up in Mokuba's possession. Attached to the red choker like necklace was a pair of small, delicate wings. The wings were silver with streaks of gold and when the light caught it just right Alice thought she could see a hint of blue as well.

"Well I came up with the idea, but the jeweler did the real work." Mokuba admitted shyly as he rubbed his neck. "After you told me all about Aeris I thought you could use something to remember her by. Do you like it?"

"I adore it. Thank you," she said happily, a watery smile on her lips at the thought of her old friend.

"I'm glad," the teen gushed as he helped her put it on.

"Now that all the traditions are out of the way, can we start?" Seto asked with a theatrical sigh.

His sharp tone brought Alice's worries back to the surface, but she suppressed them as she caressed the angel wings and made her way toward the altar. She stood next to Seto, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye and observing how tense he was. Nervously she clenched her hands together behind her back. Should she really force him to do this? Was it really fair to expect so much from someone who's asked for so little?

Since this wasn't a typical wedding and they hadn't prepared vows the ceremony was going by quickly, but with each second that passed Alice's anxiety increased exponentially. By the time she and Seto exchanged rings she was sweating metaphorical bullets and her hands were literally trembling as he placed the ring on her finger.

She risked looking up into his eyes and found uncertainty dominating his glacier blue irises. Panic filled her instantly. Was he going to run? Was she going to run for him? How could they go through with this when they were both clearly having doubts? Alice was so completely terrified that she almost missed Father David's question.

"Do you, Seto Kaiba, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

His eyes didn't leave hers as he said calmly, "Ask her first."

Alice stared at him incredulously as Father David cleared his throat uncomfortably, feeling the tension between the couple.

"Alright. Do you, Alice Pegasus Porter, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

The former Shadow took the time to think simply because he'd forced her to go first. Did that mean he was trying to get out of this situation? Was that his way of telling her? Of course she'd take him but would he do the same when it was his turn again? All she could do at this point was hope that he really did love her.

"I do." She answered decisively.

The priest smiled at her gently but she hardly noticed as she watched the eyes of the man in front of her as the next question was asked.

"And do you, Mister Kaiba, take Alice to be your wife?"

She held her breath as Seto's devilishly handsome smirk made an appearance and he said, "I…"

_~~~DFAD~~~_

Alice awoke with a start, her hand clutching her chest where her heart was hammering away. It took her a moment to acquire her bearings but when she did she saw Seto in the doorway looking like the smug bastard that he was.

"I was wondering if you ever planned on getting out of bed," he said lightly as his eyes devoured her disheveled state. "Claves needs to get the sheets to do the laundry."

"Yeah," she muttered as she ran both hands through her hair, trying to calm herself down and get a grasp on reality. _It was just a dream, you stupid woman. I should have known since everything was so perfect and then it took a nosedive… then again that's how my life normally is. Stupid. Get a grip or he'll notice._ She berated herself mentally.

"Someone looks like they had a hell of a dream." Seto commented placidly, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorframe.

"It was nothing." She assured him with a shake of her head.

"Alright. Well Sofia made breakfast again, meet me in the kitchen once you're decent." He said with his trademark smirk.

Alice's heart ached; he'd smirked at her like that during their wedding.

"I'm always decent," she tried to tease lightly, but he had already left the room.

With a heavy sigh the brunette got out of bed and began walking for the bathroom as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. And then she felt the pressure in her stomach, like butterflies or a severe case of gas. She started to place her left hand over the spot where it was most intense, but froze. Because she realized she was still very much pregnant and that there was a delicate ring on her finger.

[_A/N: Eep! It's finished! Sorry it took forever, I'm not very good with cheesy happily ever aftery things so I had to get LOTS of help. Now time for a mass editing spree! Wee! Thanks for reading 3_]


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